Sky News launches

Sky News launches: As planned, the Sky News virtual office/studio launched yesterday to coincide with the Guardian Hay Festival. And, unlike many SL venues, it’s what happens inside the building that’s important on this island.

This is the first media owner venue to properly bring news into SL (a Rivers Run Red project) and there’s a lot of features and functionality to enjoy here. The main aspect of the venue is the virtual Sky News Centre, complete with an audio feed from the RL centre as well as streaming video of Sky News show on the plethora of screens and monitors.

Part of the roadmap for this venue is the re-creation of news events and stories and this will be the sweetspot for enabling residents to engage and interact with the news – this is what metaverse marketing applications is all about : Engagement. Another key success factor for metaverse marketing is integration and there’s lots of it here.

Sky News Head of News John Ryley stated:

Second Life presents Sky News with new and exciting opportunities to deliver news and information, by allowing people to get even closer to news events. We hope that through our virtual newsroom users will be able to connect better with the days news stories, leading to a greater understanding of the real world.

And, importantly, this is not just about presenting news virtually. The venue also acts as an informational tool, letting people see how news studios operate from behind the cameras.

And, for those of you who have never been to Isleworth, West London, where BSkyB is based, it does not really look like……most of the time.