business isn't usual in Second Life

Linden Labs launched its Second Life virtual world in 2002. Since then it's become a phenomena with more than 15 million residents. While many still view Second Life as a gaming environment many more are realizing its potential for project collaborations, business opportunities, and professional development.

Think I'm kidding? Here are current statistics:






Can SL, and other virtual worlds like it, be a platform for business? SL is a popular spot for virtual conferences, training, study groups, consumer research, and more. It's no wonder that big businesses like Sony, Dell, IBM, Target, and others created destinations in Second Life.

But are they successful? Most haven't been able to make significant revenue gains with residents. When we evaluate traditional business models we can readily see why they've been unsuccessful. It's impossible to run an old-world model in a new world. If Henry Ford hadn't closed his plant to refit it for assembly line production of the Model T in 1927 we might not have a Ford Motor Company today.

Many have speculated why many of these corporate titans are closing up shop and moving out of SL. I think the bottom line is that virtual environments require interaction with the user. Second Life is built on the idea of one-to-one connections and the sharing of information. It's more than customer service, it's a matter of rethinking how we engage consumers.

scribefire is the best thing since blogging began

I enjoy blogging. I have several blogs and the process of posting to them has been clumsy. Any time I wanted to post I would have to log in, post, tag, and then move on the next one to log in, post, tag, and... You get the idea.

Recently, I had an "ah-ha" moment when I downloaded ScribeFire. I use a number of Firefox add ons, but to come across one that allowed me to manage all of my blogs - including post tags - from one window at the bottom of my browser, well, it was like moving from a bicycle to a moped. I felt liberated.

It means I can spend more time writing and less time posting. Consider this, blogging is a great marketing tool. Using WordPress, Blogger, or a php-based blog of your own design (if you happen to be that talented) is one of the best marketing strategies available to increase your exposure on the internet and attract new customers and clients. More people read blogs than newspapers. Sharing your knowledge and skills on a well constructed blog is invaluable to building credibility and revenues.

ScribeFire can be found at http://www.mozilla.com/firefox along with a number of other handy little tools that make life a lot easier than clunking through Internet Explorer. You may also want to give these Firefox add ons a try:

• Firefox Showcase - displays a window with thumbnails of open browser tabs. This add on makes finding the page I want to read easy and keeps me sane considering I tend to have 2 dozen or more tabs open at a time in 3 or more windows (commonly referred to as browser clutter).
• Session Manager - Often I want to save my surfing results. Whether it's research for a book or a collection of food reviewer websites I can save the session for later use with this add on.
• FireFTP - With the click of a button I have an FTP tab without losing the rest of the work. FireFTP is easy to configure and manages multiple accounts.
  
• IE Tab - I may not like Internet Explorer, but like Windows it's a necessary evil and sometimes websites just don't look right in anything other than IE. This add on switches the tab view from FireFox to IE and back again.
  
• Morning Coffee - This is one of my favorite add ons. This add on lets you group websites you regularly visit by day and opens them simultaneously with a click of the coffee cup. For instance, my Sunday group is a collection of news sites and blogs.
  

If you're not a FireFox user I'd suggest switching. It's easy to download and install. It's fully customizable to your surfing habits. It's even portable on a smart drive.

I began using FireFox in 2003 and haven't opened IE since. The feature that sold me on this free browser is the bookmarks file. It's stored as an HTML file. No more losing favorites during an upgrade.

For more on blogging download this free report from GReat Kreations; Blogging 101