*sigh*, we do our best with these marketing and PR experts. We take them by the hand, show them the ropes, remove the sharp objects from their tiny hands, but we can't watch *all* of them. There are so many these days. People who put up a shingle and say "I'm a freaking expert on SL media, hire me as your $250/hour consultant!" Take Joel Greenburg Greenberg of Idea City (a name that is unfortunately close to Idiocy, you may have noticed). He offers his readers a list of 12 Second life media outlets that people might contemplate when targeting their advertisements. And the list is indeed long, ranging from the ever vapid SL Blingsider, to the former Linden House Organ: New World Notes. But what is this. No Herald!??? Heaven forfend!
Ah, but you say, *surely* the Blingsider, sponsored as it is by AOLs weblogs inc. and New World Notes, sponsored as it is by Federated media have much more reach, more eyeballs than this blog, which merely caters to virtual paramilitary organizations, Crayonistas, cyberprostitutes, and trendy French intellectuals. Ah, but Technorati tells a different story. At least since the appointment of Pixeleen as Editrix and the return of yours truly:
What is the moral we are to take from this episode? Well, I say it is this, and it is free advice. Advice that I give to my child and students everywhere. Are you ready? It's this: Do your homework.
"...more eyeballs than this blog, which merely caters to virtual paramilitary organizations, Crayonistas, cyberprostitutes, and trendy French intellectuals."
I consider myself none of the above. I think I am a typical Sler. I have a SL vocation, Clothing Designer and store owner, avocation, teacher/mentor. I also, own a home and land, and maintain a friends list, with whom I often communicate.
I read SLHerald because I like its sartorial approach to LL news and it gleamed insights into the mind of LL. Besides that, it is fun to read. Keep up the good work.
Jen
Posted by: Jennifer McLuhan | December 15, 2006 at 08:03 AM
Well, ok Jen, I *guess* we can let you keep reading despite your lack of credentials. ;-)
Posted by: Urizenus | December 15, 2006 at 09:56 AM
LOL Thank goodness!
Posted by: Jennifer McLuhan | December 15, 2006 at 01:22 PM
Greenberg is spelled with an "e", not a "u".
As I said in my original post, that was a quick list, not a definitive one.
Hey, when you visit Idea City, be sure to grab our Tour HUD for self-guided tours of Second Life. While designed for people new to Second Life, you may want to create your own tours with it, as we've GPL'd the code. Also, you can brush up on your more advanced building skills in our Design Center. Next time you're there, stop buy and say hi.
Thanks for reading http://blog.ideacity.com.
Joel Greenberg
Posted by: Joel Greenberg | December 16, 2006 at 10:56 AM
Hey Joel, thanks for stopping by! Will definitely check out the HUD.
I'll fix the spelling error. I thought we had those problems ironed out when we fired our typesetter Audry, but I was obviously wrong about that.
Posted by: Urizenus | December 16, 2006 at 11:46 AM
I got the HUD. Yes, you can make your own. That should not detract for your responsibility to make up your model "cool places" with something a little broader than the list of your FIC friends and your clients. Many people will never bother to make their own.
Posted by: Prokofy Neva | December 16, 2006 at 11:52 AM
I dunno Prok, why shouldn't he make a HUD that features his clients? That's his job, no? -- getting exposure for his clients? On the other hand, if the *clients* are getting exposed to a narrow slice of SL (i.e. if the HUD is intended for client use) that *is* a worry, because it suggests the clients will be working in a state of partial information (a list of SL media outlets that omits the currently most widely read newspaper being a case in point).
Posted by: Urizenus | December 16, 2006 at 12:02 PM
If you were to make a list of the business in our Business Tour HUD and compare them to our list of clients, you would see that those two lists are mutually exclusive. In other words, the Business Tour HUD is not intended to promote our clients, rather, it's to give anyone an impression of the types of real world businesses that have entered Second Life.
As you'll note by the fact the our island is open to the public, the HUD is intended for everyone's use, as is the ability to make your own tour. Instructions to do so are at the top of the HUD kiosk at Idea Island, which you can get to, here.
Posted by: Joel Greenberg | December 16, 2006 at 03:38 PM
See, this is what's wrong, Uri. The HUD isn't just a sample, a work product intended just to flog that company -- that we could understand. Rather, it's intended for public use, especially for newbies. And it has the usual A-to-B.5 choices of places to visit -- all the usual suspects, the FIC.
I think once I publish here the two lists, you'll see what I mean.
Posted by: Prokofy Neva | December 16, 2006 at 08:12 PM
So make your own HUD Prok. Why can't Joel flog the FIC if he wants?
Posted by: Urizenus | December 16, 2006 at 08:33 PM
Uri, anyone can flog what they like. I can also point out that the flogging Joel does under the guise of providing some sort of "public service" is just flogging his own interests:
Here's the Business HUD Tour:
Nissan
Infinite Mind
Reuters
American Apparel
Text 100
Aloft
Yankee Stadium
Sony BMG
Wired
Reebok
Regina Spektor
Sun Pavilion
"If you were to make a list of the business in our Business Tour HUD and compare them to our list of clients, you would see that those two lists are mutually exclusive. In other words, the Business Tour HUD is not intended to promote our clients, rather, it's to give anyone an impression of the types of real world businesses that have entered Second Life."
Ok, so I think what this means is that you are a client of the ESC, and the ESC put all clients in the Business HUD? Seems so, but not every single one; most of them?
Posted by: Prokofy Neva | December 24, 2006 at 05:31 AM
While you're doing homework, you might want to add Linden Lifestyles to you graph, because as far as I'm aware, we're the leading SL fashion blog in terms of traffic. As the end of December approaches, we're pulling in 115,000 page views per month (not including RSS), so I think we're certainly punching in our weight class.
However, I do have to say that I think Alexa is bollocks. The numbers it ascribes to us are just plain old wrong, so I'm guessing the numbers it attributes to other sites (including other SL sites) are just as whacky.
Posted by: Sabrina Doolittle | December 28, 2006 at 10:29 PM
Yeah, am I correct in thinking that it only records pages views by people who have the alexa tool bar?
Posted by: urizenus | December 28, 2006 at 10:52 PM