Socnet data
It’s all about networking right!
Here’s some of my socnet data:
Here’s some screenshots from Mycosm for anyone who didn’t see the demo’s in LA and London recently.
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Published a little early but I’mtravelingfor the next two weeks.
Introducing the Myrl Index:Since entering open beta about a month ago, Myrl is going from strength to strength, now with 19 different virtual worlds integrated.Part of the product roadmap here is to include registration APIs for all worlds within the Myrl framework. In the meantime, visitors to Myrl wanting to join new virtual worlds can click through directly to the respective registration pages….
Twinity on the Beeb:A nice overview video plus some excellent coverage of Twinity, from the BBC News Technology site…
Growing Virtual Worlds. The race is on and heres the track:Over the last few months the focus has been primarily on the volume of new virtual worlds being launched into the marketplace. Of course, this is great for competition and provides choices for the consumers/users, but it makes the challenge of acquiring sign-ups just that ?¢‚ǨÀúlittle bit harder…
Myrl featured by the BBC:Awareness of K Zero client Myrl continues to grow. The BBC caught up with CEO Francesco DOrazio at the VWF Unconference yesterday to get an insight into the social gateway for avatars. …
Recent/current project round-up:?¢‚ǨÀúAh K Zero, the people that do they graphs is how were usually greeted when we meet people around the virtual worlds space. Sure, we do graphs and interesting stuff like that, but I thought it would be useful to go into a little detail on some of the projects weve been working on lately to demonstrate the breadth of our services….
Establishing metrics – key performance measurement for virtual worlds and MMOs:The establishing metrics workshop is ideal for marketers considering entrance in the virtual worlds space as well as those building and operating VW. The session will lay out the current VW universe from a demographic and target market perspective to provide a framework for discussion….
Presentation from Virtual Worlds London:Fresh from the stage, heres the presentation Ive just delivered in the Numbers and Growth panel from Virtual Worlds London. Ill be expanding on all of these points (for age-segmented growth areas and market issues) in posts this week….
Avatart:Sticking with the Italian theme, the Museum of Natural History at the University of Florence is running a Festival of Creativity from Oct 21 – Jan 7…
Cross-world gaming explained:K Zero client Myrl has a plan – to create a cross-world gaming platform enabling multiple VWs, avatars, mobile devices and even brands to come together to create the next phase of metaverse entertainment….
Forbes says: A ?¢‚ǨÀúVirtual Escape From Economic Pain:The Dow plummeted below 9,000 points to a five-year low Thursday. Worldwide, economies are slowing and consumers are worried sick about their future. Despite all the doom and gloom, one tiny sector is offering a glimmer of hope: virtual worlds?¢‚ǨÀú, says Forbes in a recent article….
The FT says: Virtual goods networks could rival ads:Nice little article from the FT about how virtual goods revenues could offset online advertising. My view is that it isnt about offsetting revenues in turbulent times – virtual goods will in time be a dominant income stream for brands and companies regardless of the economic situation. A view shared Im sure by Viximo, referenced in the article….
Growth areas in 2009 for virtual worlds: 5 to 15:Following the Virtual Worlds London Expo earlier this week, as promised Im going into greater detail in terms of offering my thoughts on growth areas….
Growth areas in 2009 for virtual worlds: 15 to 25:The 15 to 25 year old segment is nowhere near as hectic as the 5 to 15 space in terms of virtual worlds but nevertheless contains companies with impressive user numbers – IMVU and Gaia being great examples…
Growth areas in 2009 for virtual worlds: 25+:Rounding off this series of expanding on the points from the VW London presentation, heres the potential growth areas in the 25+ age group. ….
Virtual worlds logos:After a long week of presenting, discussing and predicting, on a much lighter note, here are the logos for a range of virtual worlds….
Flashback – the Second Life brand map:Remember the days when brands were rushing into Second Life? Seems like a very long time ago.and of course, we tracked it…
Augmented reality video round-up:Frosties with added calcium and adverts….
Mobile devices: the red herring or the diamond in the rough?:Using mobile devices to access virtual worlds pops up every now and again on the radar. For example companies like Vollee and Sun have developed applications allowing Second Life on a phone. Thats all well and good but.
Fresh from the stage, here’s the presentation I’ve just delivered in the Numbers and Growth panel from Virtual Worlds London. I’ll be expanding on all of these points (for age-segmented growth areas and market issues) in posts this week.
Update: growth areas for 5 to 15
Sticking with the Italian theme, the Museum of Natural History at the University of Florence is running a Festival of Creativity from Oct 21 – Jan 7.
What’s interesting here is that part of this festival is focussing on art created in, or using imagery from virtual worlds for their Virtual Renaissance section.
‘The exhibit, organized by Fondazione Sistema Toscana, is the brainchild of curator Mario Gerosa, a journalist and author of books on virtual realitiesVirtual Renaissance seeks to create a cultural contrast between the ethnography, anthropology and creative artifacts of primordiality, and the contemporary, artistic avantgarde active in social media and the virtual world.
The aim is to bring these virtual/digital experiences into the real world, identifying the more significant examples of artistic expression in Second Life. Florence is an ideal location for an exhibit of this new Renaissance, considering its role as the birthplace of the first, great Renaissance and the staging ground of some of the most important revolutions in the history of art.’.
More info here.
I’ll be on three panels next week at Virtual Worlds London.
1. Trends and Numbers – Where Is It All Going?
This session lays the groundwork giving you the numbers you need to understand how to take advantage of Virtual Worlds today. We’ll also look at forecasts for where Virtual Worlds are going. What are the growth projections? And what are the factors that will promote or inhibit growth.
2. FastPitch London
Launching a product takes time. Media tours can take countless days to arrange, conduct and cost untold dollars, and distract team members. FastPitch accelerates the launch process. It puts you in front of the right crowd, in one location.
3. Virtual Worlds/Web Integration: Rise of the 3D-Web?
This panel will look at the growing intertwining between virtual worlds and the web which might lead, according to many, to a 3D Web, an evolution of the web as we know it today, where web pages are empowered with immersive, presence-based features and virtual worlds become more and more part of a global network of 3D spaces.
Full session and panel run-down is here.
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A nice overview video plus some excellent coverage of Twinity, from the BBC News Technology site. Read more about Mirror Worlds here.
Anyone who was planning to attend VWF London probably knows by now that the event has been cancelled.
I’ll still be in London Monday and Tuesday so (if you’ve come in from out of town) let me know if you’d like to meet up. nic @ kzero .co .uk
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NOTE: VWF LONDON HAS BEEN CANCELLED. If you would like a copy of the presentation I was going to deliver as referenced below email me: nic @ kzero .co .uk
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That’s a mouthful – and also the title of the workshop I’ll be running next Wed (Oct 8th) at Virtual Worlds Forum. Here’s the overview.
The updated Universe graph for Q3 2008.Weve updated the Universe graph showing total registered accounts for the virtual worlds sector. New data included relates to Q3 2008.
Evolving Business Models in MMOs.An extract from a post published on Free to Play – related to MMOs but nevertheless relevant to virtual worlds and this post about Premium Subscriptions.
Lowering the Premium Subscription barrier.The majority of virtual worlds in the KT&T space rely on the premium subscription model. A straightforward enough concept – offer a basic experience of the platform for free and then incentivise members to ?¢‚ǨÀúpay for more.
Weve been Wordled.Wordle is a simple little app that pulls out popular keywords from websites and documents. Paste it in and bang – a neat visualisation that gets the ?¢‚ǨÀúgist across.
Parental email confirmations..an important earth-shatteringly vital part of the sign-up process for KT virtual worlds.
Things that make you go ?¢‚ǨÀúM.This can be filed under ?¢‚ǨÀúmore interesting than actually useful, unless that is, youre currently developing a new brand name for a virtual world. The graph below shows the first letter of the brand name for 155 virtual worlds.
The future of gaming – PS9.Hitting the shelves senses in 2020? Home might have launched by then as well.
AR in-car videogame.Not so good in the dark, but definitely one for the kids on a long journey.
The Relevance of Relevance. Winners and losers in the kids VW space.As the dust settles on the LA expo, Im thinking back to many of the discussions I had about the kids and tween virtual worlds space. The crux of these discussions, as they usually tend to, boiled down to….
The updated Radar graph for Q3 2008.Today weve released the updated graphs showing virtual worlds by sector. Of course, theres some overlap between sectors but its our best attempt to categorise worlds into groups. The usage policy is the same as for the Universe analysis.
Young and old drive gaming growth for females.A recent study released by comScore reveals some interesting trends in the online gaming sector. Specifically looking at females, growth by age band grew most in the 12-17 and 55-64 groups. Overall growth was up 27% year on year from August 2007, representing almost 43m visitors to gaming sites.
Philip Rosedale: Mainstreaming Virtual Worlds and Positioning Linden Lab.Robert Bloomfield from Metanomics recently sat down with Philip Rosedale to chew the cud over several of the live issues facing both Linden Lab and the virtual worlds sector as a whole. Robert has asked me to comment on a specific extract from the interview relating to Mainstreaming Virtual Worlds and Positioning Linden Lab. Heres the extract with my thoughts/comments in stages:
Linden Lab: Investor strategies and profitability.Another thread from Robert Bloomfields interview with Philip Rosedale covered the investment side of things – interesting insight for operators who have recently embarked on their own virtual journeys.
You must be having a graph.Its amazing what you can do with lines and circles.
Metabrand for auction on eBay.Ive talked before about Phat Cats, the highly popular Jazz club in Second Life. Its popularity highlights the role of music and socialising in virtual worlds as well as the importance and relevance of genre-based locations.
Superstruct – alternative reality forecasting.Created by the Institute for the Future (such a cool name), Superstruct is a MMO-type alternative reality forecasting game. The real and virtual worlds are tied together, meshed together by a narrative and sequence of events. Orders and instructions are given online but players have to execute them in the real world.
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