Virtual Business Gets a Real Magazine: Business Magazine for Second Life Launches

Second Life, one of the growing virtual worlds, has a new magazine dedicated to real world issues surrounding doing business in Second Life.  SL Business Magazine launched yesterday.  And true to modern media it is available in both ”real world” formats, like PDF and hard-copy, as well as “virtual formats,” like in-world note cards, and a full-color “prim” version (a prim is an in-world virtual object).

The premier issue is very nicely designed.  The content of the issue is geared to those fairly new to business in Second Life but the magazine’s goal is to cover topics such as Law, Building, the rich music scene and success stories. And, it contains both Second Life (SL) and real life (RL) advertisers. 

Second Life has had a couple of news publications for quite a while (in online time), but the SL Business Magazine hopes to focus on issues of both doing business “in world” and the intersection of RL and SL business.

While the reviews of the first issue are mixed, I’m hoping that SL Business Magazine will tell the story of the evolving business side of Second Life without the “novelty” factor given most mainstream media coverage of SL.  Some very serious work is going on in Second Life as both a media channel and a business environment. 

I hope as it matures the magazine will serve to affirm that very real business is being conducted in virtual worlds. Some believe SL is about escapism, however the facts are that some visionary companies are grabbing onto SL to leapfrog their real world businesses.  American Express, Intel and Wal-Mart, for example, are part of a consortium exploring using SL for training.  American Apparel has opened up a virtual retail outlet. The University of Southern California has built a Public Diplomacy and Virtual Worlds Center to explore how virtual worlds can be used in diplomatic endeavors.  The American Cancer Society raised over $40,000 last week in an in-world relay. And, then there are the Second Life Library and the International Space Museum which both regularly hold discussions, presentations and lectures in world - not to mention their amazingly rich exhibits.

Check out the new magazine, and if you are interested in exploring SL business implications with other business people, please join the SL Business Communicators group in SL.  We'll be holding the first meeting in mid-August.