Second Life's Multi-Platform Community

Second Life’s multi-platform community encourages collaboration and participation as users extend their community from Second Life’s online virtual world, to the social media platform that best supports their skillset as they share their creations with one another. As Second Life’s content flows across multiple media platforms, elements of transmedia storytelling become apparent in the way Second Life encourages users to take media into their own hands (Jenkins, 2006). Where transmedia storytelling tells one interconnected story on multiple platforms, Second Life enables users to tell multiple stories on multiple platforms, supporting the content they create for the Second Life virtual world. Second Life’s presence on Flickr, Instagram, and YouTube is an expansion of the Second Life community, where Second Life users connect with others through self-made artwork, photography, and storytelling. Second Life on YouTube has the most diverse content, from interviews with Second Life’s creator, and CEO, to documentaries, and vlogs, Second Life users connect with each other on a more personal level on YouTube.

The content that unfolds on these platforms are each distinct, and valuable contributions to Second Life as a whole (Jenkins, 2006). By allowing users to tell their story on multiple platforms, Second Life taps into important aspects of transmedia storytelling today-user participation, and collaboration in advancing storytelling. Where media companies in the past sought to control the narrative they released for public consumption, the consumer’s relationship with media had begun to evolve as consumers began to produce content directly inspired by that of media companies. In encouraging user creativity, Second Life creates a more inclusive community, supporting users as many of them seek the sense of community they experience in the virtual world on their preferred social media platform.



Second Life photography on Flickr 

Screen shot of the Second Life Instagram Page 


Various Second Life content on YouTube 

References

Jenkins, H. (2006). Convergence culture: Where old and new media collide. New York, NY:

New York University Press.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Collective Intelligence in Second Life

Image
Collective intelligence results when members of a knowledge community work together, leveraging their knowledge, combining skills, and pooling resources to become active participants in acquiring additional knowledge (Jenkins, 2006). A key element of collective intelligence is participation. In Second Life, collective intelligence extends past world building to community building. One notable Second Life community is the Virtual Ability Island. Virtual Ability Island belongs to Virtual Ability, Inc. a non-profit whose vision is to be the leading provider of services and information for people with disabilities in online virtual worlds (virtualability.org). Virtual Ability Island offers an online, virtual community for those with disabilities, and chronic illnesses. Virtual Ability Island incorporates collective intelligence by bringing together a number of resources to help community members integrate into the online virtual world. Virtual Ability Island members are provided with new...
Read more

Participatory Culture in Second Life: Avatar Building

Image
Participatory culture, “is more open-ended, less under the control of media producers, and more under the control of media consumers” (Jenkins, 2006, p. 133). Participatory culture in Second Life utilizes the collaborationist approach in Avatar building. Second Life users who want to custom build, and personalize Avatars can follow DIY tutorials from the Second Life community forum. Those with more knowledge of Avatar building point newer Avatar builders in the right direction by telling them what skills they need in order to create Avatars. This draws on another concept of participatory culture. Jenkins (2006) notes, “In a participatory culture, the entire community takes on some responsibility for helping newbies find their way” (p. 178). Where this takes on the role of being more under the control of media consumers (i.e. Second Life users) is in their ability to customize Avatars with no restrictions, with third party software available to create custom Avatar modelling, and text...
Read more