You may recall our coverage of the state of the main Second Life blog this week, which drew a very prompt response from virtual environment operator Linden Lab.
The Second Life blog has been steadily transforming from a communications tool that conveys information to users into a marketing and promotional tool, whose target audience seems to be those who do not currently use Second Life, with an increasing number of posts that seem to be purely promotional.
Lab CEO Mark Kingdon's post in July seemed to be little more than a brochure in the final analysis. Granted, Linden Lab seems to have no other prominent venue for publishing this sort of material, but the ongoing repurposing of the blog from communications tool to promotional tool is an interesting process to watch over time.
Indeed, the Second Life blog seems to have now completely shuttered except for marketing and promotional purposes, though Linden Lab's response to our story indicates that they have other plans for it -- though quite what, is not made completely clear.
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We'll replace the water system in a couple months. In the meantime, nobody drink any.
The principal shuttering of the main Second Life blog as a communications tool in preparation for upcoming changes and integration with a new forums system makes little or no sense on the face of it. The new systems are indicated to be planned to be operational by October (though there is yet no sign that software has even been selected for the task). Why not keep up the video tutorials, Knowledge-base highlights and assorted notifications during that time? There doesn't seem to be any reason to stop.
Links to blog articles which formerly graced the Second Life login screen have been removed -- a clear indication that the contents are no longer oriented towards Second Life users. Some few materials have been moved to lesser-known and frequented blogs, where the average Second Life user will not find them, or to the login message-of-the-day, where the user must be both attentive and industrious to locate the meat of an announcement. Certainly the message-of-the-day is easily missed, as the interstice of the login process is an ideal time to grab coffee and a sandwich.
"Linden Lab Blog Changes to Give Residents More Choices"
That's the title, but throughout, we're not yet able to see what additional choices the new system is intended to give. The limitations cited as instrumental driving forces appear to be limitations that do not exist within the software that is being used, or that are administratively imposed. What benefits the users are intended receive from this set of changes isn't at all clear.
'Until then, the blog will continue to be utilized for announcements, policy updates and introduction of new features', says Robin Harper, the Lab's engaging and vivacious VP of Marketing and Community Development. Only it hasn't been. Is this a misstatement, or a reversion of the recent changes in Second Life blog policy?
On the whole, the announcement feels purely reactive, with little sign that a solution and its merits have been settled on at this stage (even though a timeline has apparently already been set). Until such time as the new system has come along quite a bit further, we do not expect the blog to show more than promotional announcements and media-releases.
