Eva Knoller Posted February 13, 2020 Share Posted February 13, 2020 There have been discussions here about the fact that LL does not advertise Second Life. I have personally never seen it advertised anywhere, but I’m happy to be corrected. However, we do get semi frequent questions in the forum from new folks, so they are finding out about SL somehow. So, if you are new to SL, or know someone that recently joined, how did you find out that SL existed? I’m curious! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cinos Field Posted February 13, 2020 Share Posted February 13, 2020 Friends. Me 14 years ago, and every single newbie I talk with nowadays, too. It's always word of mouth and friends wanting one to join. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lucagrabacr Posted February 13, 2020 Share Posted February 13, 2020 I actually ask a lot of new users about how they found out about Second Life over the years, the 3 most common answers are ads, Google searches and "Heard about it a long time ago but just decided to join" 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kali Wylder Posted February 13, 2020 Share Posted February 13, 2020 I still find it to be a favorite entertainment, comfort, play. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bree Giffen Posted February 13, 2020 Share Posted February 13, 2020 I recall seeing an ad for SL recently while reading an news article on some random website. I remember thinking ,"Wow, SL is has an actual ad!" It's a good thing that there was an ad but a bad thing that it is so infrequent that seeing one is memorable. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tari Landar Posted February 13, 2020 Share Posted February 13, 2020 "So, how ARE people finding SL?" I sneak them in under my trench coat. I suspect the vast majority, as has been the case for well over 16 years now now, find sl via word of mouth from someone else. LL is terrible at advertising, absolutely horrendous, actually. It has long been my belief, and until I see evidence suggesting otherwise, that LL is the main reason more people don't find sl, join, and/or, stay. We, the people (for those of us who are people*), however, are quite the opposite. Some suggest this is by design and intentional on LL's part, because too much growth = more necessary work on their part in order to meet the basic needs of all participants of sl, and that just can't happen, for reasons. I may or may not agree on some levels with those some, but that's probably a discussion better had somewhere else. *I'm not a people, though I am human. 3 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lindal Kidd Posted February 13, 2020 Share Posted February 13, 2020 LL has almost always let the media do their advertising for them, for free. Even negative media attention gets people to sign up, to see what all the fuss is about. I would really like to see responses here from actual newcomers...but I doubt we will get many. Most newbies don't even know there are Forums! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheesecurd Posted February 13, 2020 Share Posted February 13, 2020 Mainly word of mouth, anyone who plays any social games has heard about it. Habbo Hotel and VRChat come to mind, still very active and advertised, but in the same realm as SL, and a lot of people talk about SL in those places. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BelindaN Posted February 13, 2020 Share Posted February 13, 2020 I must be weird then. Never gamed. No word of mouth. Just googled something almost two years ago, probably about dressing up avatars or something, and got a bullseye. Before that I'd never seen or heard about SL. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rolig Loon Posted February 13, 2020 Share Posted February 13, 2020 I've never seen an ad for SL, and have only read three or four articles over the years that said anything about it. I am not a gamer, so there's no way I would hear about SL in some other "game". I came here initially because a friend told me that this was going to be the next great opportunity for on-line education. He was dead wrong as it turns out, but that was enough to make me take a look. Pure dumb luck. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jordyn McGregor Posted February 13, 2020 Share Posted February 13, 2020 (edited) 9 hours ago, Eva Knoller said: There have been discussions here about the fact that LL does not advertise Second Life. I have personally never seen it advertised anywhere, but I’m happy to be corrected. I have seen it advertised plenty of places. Youtube, for example, has been running short video adverts for SL before videos on things like the art scene, social scene etc. I have even seen it advertised on other sites in the "make your dream woman and have sexytimes with her" vein of things. I did screenshot that one! Edited February 13, 2020 by Jordan Whitt I typoed! 1 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kimmi Zehetbauer Posted February 13, 2020 Share Posted February 13, 2020 I think there's another thread on how we found SL. I found out via a LL employee who used to come to our former night club. He said that he was working at this great new virtual world and to check it out. And the rest is history. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Claireschen Hesten Posted February 14, 2020 Share Posted February 14, 2020 On the subject of advertising the only places i've seen any form of advert for SL is on SL related blogs and sites and it was the ad that showed off people with their RL selves. I never saw any advertising around the web before i joined, i had to rely on SL being mentioned on TV and magazines to know it existed. i've seen more advertising for rival platform IMVU online and in stores that sell their gift cards i never tried it because it came across as being somewhere for kids/teens 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gregorian Chant Posted February 14, 2020 Share Posted February 14, 2020 To my memory, I have never heard or seen any ads for SL throughout their history. I only learned of SL when a coworker gave a presentation as an online education tool with a brief demo. I forgot about it for while until another colleague mentioned having a classroom inworld. So I went in for a peak. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lindal Kidd Posted February 14, 2020 Share Posted February 14, 2020 I've seen ads a couple of times. Also, when a TV series (CSI?) did a two part episode based on SL, LL set up special CSI themed "welcome" regions and staffed them with mentors to capitalize on the free advertising. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pamela Galli Posted February 14, 2020 Share Posted February 14, 2020 I read about it early, but before a Mac version. In 2007 I read an article on how avatars have rl effects on owners, mentioned SL. The rest is history! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ivanova Shostakovich Posted February 14, 2020 Share Posted February 14, 2020 Wired magazine, 2006. Even then I didn't really know what it was. I didn't create an account until a year later. I'm still here! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FaithfulandWise Posted February 14, 2020 Share Posted February 14, 2020 I don't know if I can provide any insight. Several years ago I heard about it, back before social media took off and it had always been in the back of my mind. Then, about three years ago, I was part of a private social media community and I thought SL might be a good option for us, but no one was really interested so I decided to just explore it some myself. Got bored in about a month as it was hard to meet anyone and some of the interesting areas were often void of people. I logged in again last week but my viewer on my desktop is messed up so I had to use my new laptop. Same thing - yet even emptier than 2017. It was kind of depressing. I find the concept intriguing on a number of levels but I also find it overwhelming, too...which is probably why some leave after trying it, even if they do find it. I think the key to staying is finding people you regularly interact with and you share a common interest with. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rolig Loon Posted February 14, 2020 Share Posted February 14, 2020 9 minutes ago, FaithfulandWise said: Got bored in about a month as it was hard to meet anyone and some of the interesting areas were often void of people. We hear that comment from a lot of people, and it's true. SL covers a very large area. If people were distributed evenly, there would still only be a few of them (or none) on most regions. Instead, they tend to gather in clubs, shopping areas, and event spaces that can be crowded but hard to find if you are just hopping around randomly. Linden Lab's Social Islands and the similar ones run by Firestorm are good places to start, partly because there are always more people there but mostly because they have portals to some of the more popular and interesting places to start exploring. They have the disadvantage that they tend to be full of other newbies who are just as clueless as you are, but at least you have something in common. There are other helpful areas, like Caledon Oxbridge University, that offer newcomers the same jump start and usually have more experienced mentors nearby who can suggest places to do. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunny Bunny Posted February 14, 2020 Share Posted February 14, 2020 People are finding Second Life? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lindal Kidd Posted February 14, 2020 Share Posted February 14, 2020 10 hours ago, MichaMoz said: People are finding Second Life? They are? Eek! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeathcliffMontague Posted February 14, 2020 Share Posted February 14, 2020 (edited) I honestly don't remember how I found out about it myself. I only remember that I was pretty sceptical at first, but it gradually drew me in. Took a while for me to become a regular visitor. Met a fairly new user the other day, though. 2-3 months old. She asked me how to find some stuff and I helped her, and we chatted for a bit. She had wathced YouTube videos and wanted to join for the dress-up part. Even as a guy I could help with some basic stuff (alphas, AOs), but I also pointed her in (hopefully) the right directions regarding asking in her groups and stuff like that. She asked me what I liked to do here, and I mentioned driving and boating among other things. Rezzed some high-end bikes and cars, and she was blown away. "Oh, there's MORE to it than just dressing up?" I showed her the world map. She was obviously drawn to SL from YouTube videos. Girls posting about beautifying their avi. Edited February 14, 2020 by HeathcliffMontague Grammar 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janet Voxel Posted February 14, 2020 Share Posted February 14, 2020 (edited) I think a lot of people are finding it by word of mouth and YouTube, currently. I was watching a YouTube video about a “missing” YouTube personality last night and they strangely played a clip of her explaining how she chose her name and she mentioned her name was the same as her secondlife avatar’s name. I can see how, a few thousand people hearing that might lead to a few people googling and then creating a secondlife account. There are also a lot of troll videos on YouTube. Most of them are pretty old, but they have a lot of views. A lot of those you tubers have a large number of subscribers. I’m pretty sure a lot of new people sign up based on a YouTube channel or a popular streamer. Edited February 14, 2020 by janetosilio 2 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rya Nitely Posted February 14, 2020 Share Posted February 14, 2020 A 3 year old friend told me she found it through YouTube. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pauck Posted February 14, 2020 Share Posted February 14, 2020 (edited) I heard first of SL at college, later at IMVU and that’s when I decided to sign up. Other Spanish speakers told me they found it trough YouTube, thanks to Dross a popular YouTuber in Latin America. Edited February 15, 2020 by Pauck spelling 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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