"Meet The Lindens" Today at 1PM SL Time, Brett And Strawberry Linden (Pre-Recorded)

 

 "Watch the Marketing team in this pre-recorded session at SL22B on Thursday, June 26th at 1pm PT! In attendance will be VP of Marketing Brett Linden and Senior Community Manager Strawberry Linden."

You can see the recording in Second Life, at SLB Astonish (252/226/45) or watch in on Youtube (Here)

Third SLB Linden "Town Hall" Today, SL Founder Philip Linden Speaking

 

Today is the third of the Town Hall events taking place at the Second Life Birthday. Philip Linden, the founder of Linden Lab, will be interviewed by Brett Linden.

The event will be taking place at 1:30 PM SL time at the Aquatorium. For those who can't make the event, check Vic Morrington's Youtube Livestream (here).

 

https://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/SLB%20Mesmerize/88/164/24

 

 

EOTB: Styfy and Brett Linden at The SL20B Arboretum Today (Pre-Recorded)

 

 

 Thursday, June 29th at 1:30pm PT - Watch a pre-recorded Lab Gab Special at SL20B with  Chief Marketing Officer StyFy Linden and VP of Marketing Brett Linden. Together they focus on both the acquisition of new users and the retention of existing users for Second Life. 

 

Watch it on the Second Life YouTube channel or at the SL20B Arboretum. 

 

 From the Linden Blog

  .

EOTB: "SL18B Talk Show Specials"

 

From Monday to Friday at the Second Life Birthday, there will be discussions at the auditorium at the Second Life Birthday. These are a special Lab Gab, a special episode of the Second Life Book Club, and four "Meet the Lindens" events.   

Monday June 21

8AM SL time: The Second Life Book Club - "Special with the founder of Second Life Philip Rosedale, and Professor of Anthropology at UC Irvine Tom Boellstorff. They will be talking about 18 years of Second Life!" SLB Awesome (31/232/23) (Youtube link)

2PM SL time: Lab Gab  - "SL18B Special with the Linden Lab Leadership Team" (Check here) 

Tuesday June 22

1PM SL time: Meet the Lindens with VP of Product Operations, Patch Linden - "Patch works to bring the best of product and support-based decisions on a daily operational basis to the virtual world platform for Second Life, while maintaining oversight on how all of the various teams within Linden Lab can best work together for the highest good of the Residents and the business." SLB Awesome (31/232/23) (Youtube link) 

Wednesday June 23

2PM SL time: Meet the Lindens with VP of Product, Grumpity Linden -. "Grumpity will speak in-depth about several Second Life initiatives including recent efforts focusing on growth, a stronger, more balanced economy, movement towards better community cohesion, and an overall forward-looking approach." SLB Awesome (31/232/23) (Youtube link) 

Thursday June 24

1PM SL time: Meet the Lindens with VP of Marketing, Brett Linden - "Brett will speak on recent acquisition and retention efforts for Second Life including advertising, public relations, content strategy, and social media." SLB Awesome (31/232/23) (Youtube link)

Friday June 25

1PM SL time: Meet the Moles - "The Moles are builders, scripters, and content creators employed by Linden Lab to work in the Linden Department of Public Works" SLB Awesome (31/232/23) (Youtube link)
 
To check the Linden blog post in full, Click Here.
 

Special Lab Gab on Monday June 21

 

Yesterday, Linden Lab announced on the official blog that in ten days, Monday June 21, there will be a special "Lab Gab" as part of the Second Life Birthday mega-event. This one will feature the leadership team.

During the SL18B celebrations there will be a special edition of “Lab Gab” featuring several executives from the Linden Lab leadership team. Now is your chance to share your thoughts and ask questions directly to the leadership team!  

Residents were invited to submit questions in advance for the event (link). Residents have until Tuesday June 15 to do so. 

While the announcement didn't mention names, it showed a picture of Patch, Grumpity, and Brett Linden. Respectively, they are the VP of Product Operations, Director of Product, and the Senior Marketing Director. Since the passing of Ebbe Altberg, Linden Lab has not yet announced a new CEO. 

The SL18B runs fom Thursday June 17 to Tuesday July 6.

Source: Linden blog.
 

Linden Lab at the VWBPE Conference

 

At the Virtual Worlds Best Practices for Education conference last week, there were three discussions in which there was at least one member of Linden Lab taking part, one per day of the three day event. At the first one on Thursday, Patch Linden was the sole person from the Lab. Of the three people leading the investment group that bought Linden Lab last year, Randy Waterfield, Brad Oberwager, and Raj Date, Patch stated he mostly worked with Oberwager and was optimistic about his intentions for the virtual world. "He has one mission: to be the best and biggest virtual world there can be. He wants to grow and invest in Second Life. He genuinely loves the product." All three were very interested in making Tilia, the virtual currency exchange service under Linden Lab, "grow and prosper," but as it had a "symbiotic relationship" with Second Life, the virtual world would grow as well. Patch stated Oberwager had the goal of increasing Second Life's userbase, "we want to double the resident population over the next 3-5 years." The team itself wanted to finish work on Amazon Web Services, and there were plans to work on the "onboarding experience for newcomers, "We've learned through the Pandemic. We've listened to users. It's given us stuff to latch on to, to make improvements that will help everyone."

At the Roundtable discussion on Friday, Patch, Brett (Marketing), Grumpity (VP of Product), Madori (Land Operations) were before an audience of residents. Grumpity expressed excitement about the Cloud Server project, "that will allow us to use cloud technology in ways to improve user experience." Brett talked about the Adult Swim event and the NFL Alumni Experience (that took place around the Superbowl). When asked about the possibility of the return of the Teen Grid, which was taken offline on Jan 01 2011, Grumpity stated they had "frequently talked about Teen Grid internally." When asked about the Zoom video communication service, Grumpity stated, "Being in Second Life creates a sense of presence that's not present on Zoom, and also they don't have to turn their camera on here, like in Zoom." When asked about the upcoming Android client, Grumpity answered, "We hear you, we're working on figuring out a solution to that. We're excited about possibilities that will allow us to bring SL to mobile devices."

On Saturday, Grumpity and Brett Lindens were the ones appearing before the audience. Among the subjects discussed were trouble with griefers. They also discussed accessibility for residents whom English was a second language. They also talked about the Community Gateway Program, Grumpity commenting, "Nothing beats someone showing you the ropes." Grumpity stated there were new starter avatars in development by Linden Lab. Of when the Education discount was discontinued in 2010 and not brought back for three years, Grumpity would call it, "dark times ... I won't blame anyone, but it was wrong."

The Linden events and others can be seen in the VWBPE Youtube channel.

Bixyl Shuftan

"Introducing the Second Life Endowment for the Arts"

Good news for fans of the late "Linden Endowment for the Arts," which after running for eight years closed in August 2019.  On the official blog, Brett Linden announced the Second Life Endowment for the Arts, or SLEA, "the spiritual successor" to the old LEA.

... the new SLEA is a multi-region experience that aims to provide opportunities to further fuel interest in and spotlight the work of both established and emerging artists in Second Life.  

It is hoped that the creations and art featured in SLEA will help draw attention to the overall arts community in Second Life including driving both traffic and awareness to many of the established artists and exhibits found across Second Life. In addition, SLEA would like to reach out to new residents of SL and help them to discover the arts in SL and all the creative tools that are offered so that a new generation of creativity will unfold.

The regions are scheduled to open sometime in January 2021. Linden Lab stated they were doing the SLEA "in partnership" with Tansee and Hannington Xeltentat. Tansee was a member of the LEA, and after the announcement it was closing in July 2019, she was part of an effort to save it. She would soon get together with Hannington, and they would come up with the Hannington Endowment For The Arts in November. Brett would state, "That initiative, which has drawn the interest, respect and participation of many artists in SL, proved the concept and the demand from the arts community in Second Life. SLEA promises even more access to engaging events, exhibitions and experiences in the arts for the Second Life community. It is anticipated that the HEA will continue as a separate entity for those who wish to participate in its activities "

Of how interested artists can take part, Brett stated, "Specific details of how the community can get involved in SLEA will be revealed in the near future. Keep an eye out for the application where artists and creators can apply for consideration for use of full or partial regions at SLEA." He would add there was a "new SLEA group inworld" that they could join. For those wanting to learn still more, he stated that there would be an interview with he, Patch Linden, Tansee and Hannington on "a special episode of 'Designing Worlds' " next week.

Brett would add the following on the bottom:

Linden Lab and the SLEA wish to express our deep gratitude to all in the community who have supported and promoted the arts in Second Life over the years. In particular, we want to express thanks to the many volunteers who contributed to the original Linden Endowment for the Arts during its almost decade-long run from 2010-2019. We are grateful for your ongoing passion and support -- and we can’t wait to see what the new year brings with SLEA in 2021.

Source: Linden Blog

Bixyl Shuftan

Eye On The Blog: Lab Gab Friday, Music Fest Auditions Signups, Second Life Marketing

In the past week, there have been some noteworthy entries in the official Second Life blog.

A few days ago, Linden Lab announced that they are accepting applications for the Second Life Seventeenth Birthday Music Fest auditions.

Full details of this year’s SL17B event will be revealed soon...but to get things started we are opening up the sign-up process now for auditions for the annual Music Fest, to be held June 19-20. Music Fest will kick off the overall SL17B celebration with two days of live music performances featuring some of the most talented musicians in SL! 

Are you a new or veteran Second Life musician that wants to participate? Over a dozen performers will be chosen to share their musical talents with the Second Life community in an event that has become an SLB tradition. We welcome performers to apply and join us in wishing Second Life "Happy Birthday!" 

Those interested in taking part should sign the application form, no later than May 18.  The Lab reminded readers that signing up is no guarantee of being guaranteed a spot in the auditions.

Also, there was an announcement that this Friday, March 6 at 11 AM will be the next episode of the "Lab Gab" show. Host Strawberry Linden will be interviewing two members of Second Life's Marketing team: Brett and Darcy Linden.

Join our host, Strawberry Linden, as she speaks with two members of our Marketing team. Brett Linden is the Senior Director of Marketing and Darcy Linden is the Senior Marketing Manager. They will be talking about the 2020 Roadmap for Marketing Second Life.

Those whom have a marketing-themed question they'd like Brett and Darcy Linden to answer can submit it on this form.  There is no guarantee of it being answered. The episode can be seen tomorrow (Friday) at 11 AM SL time on Youtube.

Brett Linden himself would make a post on the official blog, titled "The Heart and Science of Second Life Marketing."

We’ve gotten quite a few questions lately about how we market Second Life to potential new residents. Insight into our current and future marketing strategies is important because it provides a glimpse into our efforts to help grow the Second Life population and economy as it enters its 17th year of operations. That’s why our current Marketing team has been working hard over the past year to sharpen our growth initiatives with more efficient and targeted campaigns that reach across many paid, organic and social channels. Keep reading to learn what we’re doing now and in the near future.

The blog post was quite detailed and had much to say. Some of it will be covered of course on the Lab Gab show tomorrow.
 

Themed Learning Islands in Development by Linden Lab

First impressions, while not everything, can mean a lot. And for Second Life, the first impression new users get is Learning Island. Having been around since 2013, they're part of a two-step process in which new arrivals first arrive in a place only they can be, and after some basic instructions head on to Social Island to continue their orientation, though possibly with the guidance with established residents. In 2017, they were remodeled with a new look. In a recent article in Modem World, Inara Pey stated over the past few months there's been something new in development by Linden Lab: themed Learning Islands.

The idea is that Linden Lab will run various Internet advertisements with a certain theme, such as the science-fiction one pictured in Inara's article. Clicking on the ad brings up a page in the theme of the ad, and those signing up through it will be taken to a Learning Island that is in the style of the theme of the ad and page. These are not yet complete, still in the testing stage as Brett Linden told her.

Linden Lab is still in the early weeks of testing the concept of Themed Learning Islands. The initiative began quietly a month or so ago with a Romance-themed island test that is not currently active. Next up is a Sci-Fi-themed learning island that we’ll begin testing very soon. We’re also looking at several other themes for future tests, [and] it is also possible that we’ll revise the Romance and Sci-Fi themes as we gather more data on them.

Besides the themed ad campaign and sign-up process, the Lab will be looking into just how well it is working. It will also be looking at smaller elements as to what works and what doesn't, such as offering the new user a lot of information or having them find out more on their own. Patch Linden would state the new Learning Islands would not usually be open to established residents during testing.

We actually want to discourage public access to the islands while in testing so that our statistics, measuring and data-gathering don’t get influenced by having the islands inundated with established users coming into them and possibly preventing new users from naturally proceeding through the anticipated test flow. That way, we can gather as accurate information as possible on what’s happening in terms of acquisition and retention against everything else.

Talking to Brett, Patch, and Leira Linden, Inara came to the conclusion that the Lab was making a more intensive effort at user retention than before, "One thing that struck me ... is just what is going into user acquisition and attempts to improve user retention, when it is perhaps a little to easy to assume the Lab is just “tinkering without understanding”. Considerable thought is being put into trying to increase new user engagement and retention, and it does involve a lot of number crunching, analysis, and trying to build on what is shown to work, as well as trying entirely new approaches. ...it’s clear from talking to Brett, Keira and Patch that the Lab is pouring a lot of effort into this approach, as well as looking at other avenues of user acquisition and retention."

The earliest effort at the newbie experience, Orientation Island, was estimated to have only a ten percent retention rate. Destination Island, which was around from 2012 to 2013, was a bare-bones experience that was much more confusing and frustrating to new users and most likely had a much lower retention rate. Why a fair experience was replaced with a bad one back then, one can only speculate at the reasons why. But it's clear several years later, Linden Lab is making a much more serious effort to not just bring new people into Second Life, but to make a good first impression in the first hour or two that can make all the difference in which a new user decides whether or not to keep coming back.

Source: Modem World

Bixyl Shuftan

"Meet The Lindens" This Week At The SL15B Auditorium

For the past few years at the Second Life Birthday, the residents have had a chance to hear from the Lindens themselves. And this year, they can at the "Meet The Lindens" events in the Auditorium. From Monday to Friday 2-4PM SL time, Saffia Widdershins will be conducting interviews with various Lindens.

Monday: Xiola Linden
Tuesday: Keira and Patch Linden
Wednesday: Ebbe Linden (the CEO)
Thursday: Oz and Grumpity Liden
Friday: Brett Linden

The Auditorium is just north of https://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/SL15B%20Enchant/25/119/23

Linden Lab to Hold Monthly Events Meetings

Effective March 3, Linden Lab will begin holding monthly Events user group meetings for anyone interested in providing feedback and learning about changes to the Events directory.

The first meeting will be held March 3 at 2 p.m. (Pacific) and future meetings will be held the first Thursday of each month in the Hanley region:
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Hanley/159/209/27

Capacity will be limited, so we encourage people to arrive early!

For the March 3 meeting, some members of the Linden Lab events team will be available to discuss current Events listing policies and guidelines.

In subsequent meetings, Linden Lab staff will be taking broader agenda items from the community. You can always stay informed on previous and future meeting notes and times on the following Events User Group wiki page:
http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Events_User_Group

I'd like to thank Kalli Berman and Mankind Tracer for allowing me to attend the recent United Music Community forum. Some of the information from that meeting has been passed on to the Events team and many of those issues will be discussed in the first Linden Lab User Group meeting.

Best,

Brett Linden