The SL website.

[Coffee Pancake]

This is the front page of Secondlife.com 

These pages exist to attract new users, and to give those who have just started out pointers as to what they can do.

Moaning that LL don't advertise SL is pointless when this is where those adverts would drop them.

We really need to talk about this.

 

The headline items are earn money, be creative, find entertainment, be social, land, education (. . .) and business.

SL is for the vast majority none of those things. It's raw naked consumerism with as hefty side of social interaction

Land is just a necessity. All these shoppers need someplace to put the stuff they buy. So we all play dress up and decorate. Some people make homes, others make social places, but really it's all the same deal .. a little bit of building, and a lot of shopping for things to pick and place.

 

But lets dive a little deeper .. keeping in mind this site is mostly for people who haven't even started SL yet.

For the sub pages, the design of the top third of the page is nice, if misdirected more often than not. The second third where the real call to action should be is just wasted most of the time and the final third just sends people off into the weeds with very specific (yet not informative) parts of SL's sprawling web site .. here be dragons (and all presented with several different designs from the various half completed epochs of SL's web project).

• Creative takes you to that now infamous picture of someone building a car from parts not made in SL. Creativity in SL was a selling point when creativity could be done in SL. Make stuff in Maya (ha!) or Blender and upload it is really not the same.
• Entertainment splits off to a few places ... and I will go into that more below.
• Social .. seems not to give any information about the social aspects of SL. Where are all the pictures of groups of people being social. Why isn't this page just titled "YOU CAN MAKE FRIENDS HERE". Don't get me wrong, I'm sure Jo Yardley is a wonderful person, but I've never even met her in SL. Now I'm just wondering, is this just a badly titled quest .. To find the social, one must first find @Jo Yardley for she has the answers. 
• Real Estate .. looks like it was phoned in, it even promises no jet lag .. at least that specific type of lag wont get you.
• Education is not a headline thing. It's never been a thing. Stop trying to make it a thing.
• Business is about making money in SL. You can become a merchant, a landlord, make experiences or get a job/gig. Only a tiny fraction of people want to be a merchant, being a start up landlord in 2019 is a silly idea and no one is making "experiences". The last one deserves some special attention though, it takes you off to a terrible wiki page where you find out you can be a *cough* "dancer", a model (oh no), a shop attendant or a bouncer. Are we even playing the same game? 

But it's entertainment where the fun really starts.

Music takes you to a picture of two avatars presumably on stage, you can't tell as the picture only captures them from neck to kneecaps. Oh wow, I sure wish I was there with that guys open shirt and glitch hand. Why is there not a picture of a lot of avatars in a club or something. Main focus is to dump people on the destination guide .. 

Roleplay ... *exasperated wailing sounds*

Games is just a zero effort literal link to the destination guide.

Romance opens with a great picture, really really emotive... BOOM ...... and then wastes it by offering destination guide links to a few very bland, very old social locations, that may have "romance" as a keyword.

 

And then we get to fashion .. and you get this. Whatever and whoever this is supposed to attract is beyond me. No one is dressing like this. No one is buying this. No one wants to join SL so they can wear their hair backwards, dressed in a bin bag with a dish cloth.

 

Wow look, that's a lot of people all fighting over each other on 5 cloned regions with 10 more as overflow .. I wonder what they could be doing?

[VaelFaye]

13 minutes ago, CoffeeDujour said:

And then we get to fashion .. and you get this. Whatever and whoever this is supposed to attract is beyond me. No one is dressing like this. No one is buying this. No one wants to join SL so they can wear their hair backwards, dressed in a bin bag with a dish cloth.

 

 

 

I'd actually purchase all three of those on the spot if I knew who the sellers were.

~Vael Faye

[VaelFaye]

17 minutes ago, CoffeeDujour said:

No one wants to join SL so they can wear their hair backwards, dressed in a bin bag with a dish cloth.

Why not?

[Coffee Pancake]

1 minute ago, flowersforkain said:

Why not?

Sure there is always the exception, but targeting a tiny niche doesn't make for a populous virtual world.

Catwalk fashion oddities and a personally creative avatar are not even remotely the same thing broadly speaking, if they were, you wouldn't need to ask where you might get those outfits.

SL fashion trends in variations of real world high street fashion, shockingly, people like to buy things like the things they like.

[VaelFaye]

Sure.

[ananoelle]

2 minutes ago, flowersforkain said:

Why not?

Avant Garde is an acquired taste and not for everyone. /shrugs 

@CoffeeDujour

I hear ya

• Make money in second life - hard to do for new comers
• Socialise - 🤣 
• Creativity - I cant speak about this.. my creativity is putting a outfit together. 
• Real Estate - Dont bother unless you are loaded ..... nope actually just buy premium and move into Bellisseria
• Business - again for new comers maybe not.

 

[Fox Wijaya]

39 minutes ago, flowersforkain said:

Why not?

 

18 minutes ago, flowersforkain said:

Sure.

this is a forum... not a chat... if you respond with only one or two words without adding any contribution the discussion will get quite boring fast.

[Fox Wijaya]

18 minutes ago, ananoelle said:

• Real Estate - Dont bother unless you are loaded ..... nope actually just buy premium and move into Bellisseria

 

if you'r subject to VAT or not able to buy enough regions to join the Atlas program you'll have to offer exceptional land and services or see your business gone in a few months/weeks.
The mainland rentals for a nickle and dime are also just  really a nickle and dime, if you can't work without the VAT. It can be a big enjoyment to do it, but can't call it business.

[ananoelle]

2 minutes ago, Fox Wijaya said:

 VAT

needs to look up what VAT is ... lol im guessing some kind of tax system?

[VaelFaye]

10 minutes ago, Fox Wijaya said:

 

this is a forum... not a chat... if you respond with only one or two words without adding any contribution the discussion will get quite boring fast.

Sorry.

[ThorinII]

2 minutes ago, ananoelle said:

needs to look up what VAT is ... lol im guessing some kind of tax system?

"Value Added Tax" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Value-added_tax

[Mollymews]

3 minutes ago, ananoelle said:

needs to look up what VAT is ... lol im guessing some kind of tax system?

consumption tax. same as GST

[Theresa Tennyson]

47 minutes ago, CoffeeDujour said:

Sure there is always the exception, but targeting a tiny niche doesn't make for a populous virtual world.

Second Life at its height has never had concurrency greater than that of Topeka, Kansas. When it was at its highest the system was threatening to tip over under the load. Meanwhile today, with average concurrency around half of its peak, there are still regions that regularly are unable to support all the people who want to go there for certain occasions.

Second Life is a tiny niche and can't be anything else with the current technology.

[Fox Wijaya]

1 hour ago, ananoelle said:

needs to look up what VAT is ... lol im guessing some kind of tax system?

yes.. as the others already said
for example for dutchies... we have 21% tax added to premium ( in the new setting) but since many years also for landholding, meaning we pay 21% more than a US or non VAT using country... with those additional fee it's impossible to compete with other estate owners.
It's btw nothing that LL can help about, it's the European tax rules they are forced to use. In the past the premium subsciption VAT was taken for account by LL, with the new rules only the yearly will be free of VAT addition, so next to the 30% raise for monthly, we also get a additional 21% added on the total new price .. really not fun

[ananoelle]

9 minutes ago, Fox Wijaya said:

yes.. as the others already said
for example for dutchies... we have 21% tax added to premium ( in the new setting) but since many years also for landholding, meaning we pay 21% more than a US or non VAT using country... with those additional fee it's impossible to compete with other estate owners.
It's btw nothing that LL can help about, it's the European tax rules they are forced to use. In the past the premium subsciption VAT was taken for account by LL, with the new rules only the yearly will be free of VAT addition, so next to the 30% raise for monthly, we also get a additional 21% added on the total new price .. really not fun

Ahh, totally understandable ... where I am we are going to have to pay around NZD$155 pa depending on exchange rates ... that isnt a fun amount either.

[Mollymews]

agree that a greater use of crowd scenes would be good in the promotional advert imagery

scenes where there are actual people.  Portal Park, shopping events, live music concerts, and  other resident places where there are no bots but real people in numbers. Showcasing different genres, like Wildcats Country and some of the others on the Destinations guide for example

[LittleMe Jewell]

5 hours ago, Theresa Tennyson said:

Second Life at its height has never had concurrency greater than that of Topeka, Kansas.

I truly cracked up at this.  I didn't know anyone around here had even heard of Topeka, let alone knew anything about it.

Edited June 21, 2019 by LittleMe Jewell

[LittleMe Jewell]

Even though the "Make money" and "Business" aspects are really mostly non-existent for newcomers, it is still a great way to grab people's eye. I highly doubt LL will ever stop promoting that aspect top and center just because of the number of folks it draws in, even if they don't stay.

[Beth Macbain]

When you look around and who is using SL, and what they're doing, that would seem to be a good way to guide marketing efforts.

The vast majority of people I meet are women in their 40s, often housewives with kids in school and husbands at work, looking to feel desired again. To be wooed. Romanced. The men are all around the same age, maybe a little older, working, married, with kids and their wives have (seemingly) lost interest in sex and they have dead bedrooms and come to SL looking for passion and desire and excitement. (But these two together and you have a bigger outside issue that would make a fascinating couples study)

The offshoots of this are the shopping and land. You have to look good and feel good about the way you look in order to go out into the populated places of SL in order to get those things you're looking for, and then you need your private place to take them back to. 

We need the business owners and creators and merchants and entertainers to bring it all together. Clubs, lighting, DJs, clothing stores, heads, bodies, skins, hair, dance animations, adult animations, couches, beds, etc., etc., ad infinitum. 

So... marketing. Where else are those 40 and 50 year old women and men spending their time on the internet?  I can only speak for me, even though I'm not entirely that demographic that I'm talking about, but you can find me on YouTube watching makeup tutorials and health/beauty/wellness vloggers, on Instagram following those same people, plus some celebs and a bunch of adorable dogs and cats. I watch some porn. I use Skype. Twitter. I know LL uses those platforms, and does *some* marketing (not on the porn sites), but are they directing that marketing to the right audience on those platforms?

And, yes, I know that my demographic may not (and probably isn't) indicative of the typical SL user. I honestly don't know. 

If you were going to try to define the typical demographic for you and the people you know, what would it be, and where would the best place to market to you be?

And the front page of SL for potential residents, I think, should be showcasing how hot you can make your avatar, and how hot some of the other users are. But that's based on my demographic.  😋

[Coffee Pancake]

 

1 hour ago, LittleMe Jewell said:

Even though the "Make money" and "Business" aspects are really mostly non-existent for newcomers, it is still a great way to grab people's eye. I highly doubt LL will ever stop promoting that aspect top and center just because of the number of folks it draws in, even if they don't stay.

The website as it stands does not prepare users with realistic expectations, it's like a trick to get people in the door and then hope by the time anyone figures it out they will be hooked, unable or unwilling to leave. No wonder the churn and the hate LL get is so high.

Managing customer expectations is probably the key area where LL fail SL customers, I know of no other company or community platform with a persistent hardcore of ex-users who, unable to move on, actively and vocally wish the entire project to fail just so they can get some closure. LL & SL has actual long term anti-customers.

I'm not saying don't put the economy front and center, but shift from pitch from appealing vendors to attracting consumers. 

1 hour ago, Beth Macbain said:

The vast majority of people I meet are women in their 40s, 

Same, and this is problem. We need a constant influx of new younger people.

 

1 hour ago, Beth Macbain said:

We need the business owners and creators and merchants and entertainers to bring it all together. Clubs, lighting, DJs, clothing stores, heads, bodies, skins, hair, dance animations, adult animations, couches, beds, etc., etc., ad infinitum. 

SL has them in abundance, and once settled it becomes something people aspire towards and get invested in.

I've know a lot of people come here over the years with the specific intent to "make money", and  of those that were serious and capable, none are still here.

The long term creators I Know are here because they fell in love with SL and redirected their lives to make content for it.

1 hour ago, Beth Macbain said:

If you were going to try to define the typical demographic for you and the people you know, what would it be, and where would the best place to market to you be?

 SL should be shown as an accessible and welcoming place to all ages, but the push needs to be squarely at people in their mid to late twenties.

1 hour ago, Beth Macbain said:

And the front page of SL for potential residents, I think, should be showcasing how hot you can make your avatar, and how hot some of the other users are. But that's based on my demographic.  😋

Yes. and it specifically needs to be how hot your avatar can be, not how wacky or unique or creative. This is why the romance headline image is so damn good, it has a emotional temperature.

Hot well made human avatars.

Hot well made furry avatars.

Hot well made anime avatars.

The people who join and want something more personal will very quickly find things can get as weird as they care to imagine.

[Beth Macbain]

26 minutes ago, CoffeeDujour said:

The people who join and want something more personal will very quickly find things can get as weird as they care to imagine.

Great tagline!

Second Life... Be as Weird as you can Imagine. 

[Selene Gregoire]

7 hours ago, Theresa Tennyson said:

Second Life is a tiny niche and can't be anything else with the current technology.

Even with up to date tech, SL is, has been and always will be a niche market.

[Wulfie Reanimator]

2 hours ago, CoffeeDujour said:

Hot well made furry avatars.

LL is gonna need to source some animations made specifically for furries before this can happen.

Imagine that "Romance" picture with animal muzzles. They'd just clip into each other, as they do in practice.

[Kyrah Abattoir]

Here is my two cents:

LL has made a bit of a habit of marketing SL without looking too hard at what SL actually is about.

They know what their platform does at a technical level, but I don't think they spend enough time inworld anymore to have "good ideas" on who to market it to.

They also have always carefully tiptoed around that adult audience that they cannot bring themselves to publicly aknowledge or promote.

I see no furries, cyborgs or anime avatars anywhere on the main page.

I also see no "fantasy" it is politically correct, aseptised, ...lifeless.

A lot of the public image they cultivate for secondlife reminds me of "the sims"(the game), but that it's a pretty terrible analogy for SecondLife.

[Coffee Pancake]

The whole world already knows that part and figures it's all there is. "fantasy" is a great term for everything we actually get up to without the need to really care what exactly any of it is.

Even if they just reduced the pitch to SL being a place where you can have a really awesome avatar, and hang out with other people with awesome avatars, here are lots of pictures of awesome avatars hanging about, looking awesome ... frequently point out everything is made by residents some of which make a real income, remove all mention of everything else, especially land.

Open sim proved one thing very plainly, people don't get excited about virtual land on it's own. In SL they only got excited because a few people made a lot of money, which without a population boom isn't a thing for someone to start from scratch.