From left: Zeke Barber (me!), Jonathan Richardson,
and Shel Witte having a good ol’ chat in Second Life.

I’ve given Second Life a go a good half-dozen tries prior to tonight, but this time I was finally able to engage in a group chat. Shel Witte — I’m using only Second Life names in this post — who in his “first life” co-hosts a pretty nifty business podcast, and Jonathan Richardson wandered into the Comms Cafe booth on Podcast Island shortly after I did tonight, and we were later joined by Chris 2x Pankhurst and then Pickle Radio.

Admittedly, the usability rating in Second Life doesn’t get high marks from me just yet. I’m still having trouble moving around — I spent a good five minutes extricating my head from an umbrella and arm from a wall! — and I didn’t receive all incoming instant messages. The chatting screen couldn’t keep up with my typing, either (some more RAM for my desktop PC would likely solve that problem).

But in spite of its general clunkiness, Second Life is still a place that businesses and professional communicators need to be giving a test run. Digital marketing specialist and podcaster C.C. Chapman has recently set up a Second Life office, and others Lee Hopkins is set to follow. The American Cancer Society also raised $40,000 in Second Life as part of its Relay for Life campaign last weekend.

It’s easy to dismiss Second Life — or even podcasting or blogging — as a passing fad, but such a “sweeping statements” are, in my view, irresponsible and close-minded. As Shel points out, the web itself, along with e-mail and instant messaging, were all given the kiss of death in their early incarnations. Is there any doubt now whether any of those communications channels have proven their worth?

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