[Viewer 2.5 Beta Now Available]

The more Facebook and Twitter apps become integrated with secondlife, the easier it will be for users to flow from one platform to the next. Secondlife can only benefit from an increasing user base, and so will content creators. Facebookers will require a simpler GUI, and it wouldn't be dumb for Linden to create a simpler, non-builder's viewer, for people who just want to chat and look pretty. Maybe a brower app with basic chat, tp and appearance editor. Builders can have another more complex viewer with some sort of mesh creation tool plus the prim stuff. Why one viewer for all? I think Linden has been shooting itself in the foot by trying to serve 2 kinds of customers with the same dish...

Just make a facebook app, with a simple  2D representation of an avatar. Let the facebookers click the colorful icons and make their little 2D recreation of themselves.. then the app shows them a finished 3D approximation of what they just created. Then pop up the message: Bingo, now you're just one click away from joining the global entertainment universe that is SL.

My oh, so humble, advice is: Better, Faster, Colorful and Intuitive non-builder viewer for the facebookers. Think about it, these people want something simple and fast. It's like going clubbing -they don't want to learn what it takes to master the record they're dancing to, or what it took to brew their beer or whatever... they just want fun, and fast. Noob island and all that is just horrible, slow and off putting... not everybody wants to sit and learn about prims and all that. They don't want a doctorate about virtual worlds!! They wanna have fun after getting home from a hard day at work. Ok, nuff said about that.

Oh, and the fact that people complain about wanting their profiles kept private is ridiculous. Guys... if you want to have privacy don't put stuff on your profiles in the first place. People in SL can be just as creepy, if not more so than those "pesky" facebookers.  Oooh my profile is gonna be liked on facebook... jeez get over yourselves.

[Getting Immersed in Second Life]

Welcome to SL!! Glad to see you like building stuff. The more you use the program to build, and maybe even make a store for yourself, visit some clubs, you will see what needs improvement. Maybe make an alt and work inworld.