SecondLife - How To Make Money In Second Life

How apt: the first video tutorial on our new blogs is about a couple things I’ve been hearing a lot of word-of-mouth about ever since we launched yesterday:

1. Subscribing to our blog - You can be auto-updated of new posts and other content via email or RSS feed. To the left of every channel and sub-channel are Notifications links.
2. Changing your email notifications - Some Residents have said it’s too spammy every time they get a new comment from a thread. You can selectively turn the default OFF but you need to login, then go to “Your Preferences“. I’ll also show you how to remove notifications selectively. I know, it’s not the most obvious… we’ve got awesome Lindens working on making it more elegant!

This vidtut will show you all that and move in less than 5 minutes, enjoy and let me know what other blog tips & tricks we should be broadcasting.

[UPDATE] One thing not mentioned in the vid: for you infoholics, you can subscribe to EVERY SINGLE POST ON THESE ENTIRE BLOGS by using this feed. (Thanks Yoz!)

   Greetings everyone!

A hearty welcome to our new blog network.  There is so much going at Linden Lab and in the Second Life community, we wanted to be able to encourage people to post and share but do it in a way that is easily navigated by our readers.  Hence, the new blog structure with different channels for different topics.  Hope you like it.

I’ve introduced myself and posted before on the Secondlife.com blog so you know me already.  But our comms team thought it might be fun to share “…a day in the life of…” starting with a day in the life of M Linden.

There is no typical M Linden day but they generally go something like this:

• Get up before the sun, grab a coffee and scan email, read SL news and blogs, the NY Times and the WSJ. I call this “Mark time.”  Like Blue, I am not a morning person
• Go to the gym for a workout then walk to the office (this is when I get my mind ready for the day)
• Catch up with my two pod mates — Catherine (PR) and Philip (Chairman) who sit on either side of me, share a laugh, move their stuff back onto their desks which is always overflowing on to mine (I am the neatest of the three in our pod) then get to work
• Peruse our very extensive metrics dashboard to see how the company is doing (with literally hundreds of measures for everything you can imagine from Resident satisfaction to registrations in last hour to frame-rate-per-second) for 10-15 minutes
• Have 1:1 meetings with leaders of the big projects underway in the Lab (most recent was Judy on localization of the Second Life experience for international markets)
• If its a Monday or Wednesday, I usually lead our executive meeting where we talk about the opportunities and challenges of the day. If it’s a Friday, I give a “state of the company” talk at our Friday Lunch here in the Battery Lab
• Review some work done by one of the teams — maybe a new design for the Land store, or a UI improvement we are planning
• Hit the snack store at 3PM with everyone else
• Have a press interview (most recent was the BBC) on exciting things happening in Second Life
• Attend inworld meetings with service providers, partners, press, research firms but before I do I usually have to respond to inworld messages and forward comment cards on to folks in the Lab who can help

That’s it in a nutshell.  Enjoy the blog!

Sometimes it’s tough to arrange for the perfect storybook night out. It doesn’t matter what world you’re in, great adventures don’t grow on trees.

Let’s say you just landed in Austin, Texas and you’re looking to have a legendary night out. Throw a dart at the map, and it’s pretty unlikely that you’ll find yourself in a great club where the DJ spins magical tunes as Mr. or Ms. Right leads you onto the dance floor. You’re more likely going to end up on some street corner dancing with the pigeons.

Of course the same applies to Second Life which, as it happens, is currently about the same size as Austin (~650 km2), just as full of great live music, interesting places, fantastic folks, and where throwing a dart at the map is more likely to wreck your monitor than it is to ensure unrivaled fun.  Having knowledgable friends make personal recommendations can really make all the difference.

And so, like a good friend, Eureka will recommend not just cool places to visit and cool things to do in Second Life, but great resources for finding them.  Once we get up to speed, you can expect that Eureka will feature cool places and resources every day.  In time I’ll also be arranging for guest bloggers, field trips, and sundry other ways for you to get involved!

There are a number of ways you can get your daily Eureka including (of course) by visiting this blog, but if you prefer, Eureka will come to you. Sign up for a daily email update, subscribe to the RSS feed or follow “BlueLinden” on Twitter.com or Plurk.com. And if you’re inworld and find an exceptional location take a snapshot and fire it off to blue @ lindenlab.com. Torley shows you how!

Whether you’re brand new to the SL scene, an occasional tourist, or an intrepid explorer you’re invited to join us and share your story!

We are very pleased to have a dedicated, Community focused venue to introduce new plans, highlight extraordinary inworld projects, discuss ongoing issues and kick off feedback sessions.

One of the first things we’d like to do is share with you our proposed roadmap for future community development, and how we would like to engage the Community going forward.

We plan to include useful and fun blog postings that will help open your eyes to what is happening inworld and maybe even teach you a new trick or two. Since Land is often an integral part of what we do with Community, you will probably see some cross-posting and overlap as we weave the changes to Mainland into our community plans.

Above all, we hope this space will be a go-to space for Resident communications, policy announcements and general discussions about all things Second Life Community.

   Welcome to the Technology and Product Channel!

Today marks the first day of the new and shiny blog on the topics that are near and dear to all residents and Lindens: technology and products! While the really big announcements will appear on the “big blog”, here’s where we’ll post about cool new innovations being cooked up at the lab, update you on longer term projects, and invite the community to participate in the hard and fun work of building the future of Second Life.

While the roster will evolve, and we’ll feature the occasional guest poster, we’ve got an intrepid set of folks signed up. They are:

• Howard Linden - Dr. Viewer and Mr. Web App
• FJ Linden - The GridMaster
• Joe Linden - Looking over the horizon at emerging technology
• Michon Linden - Core, simulator engineering
• Kelly Linden - Software Engineer: Simulator and Core Services
• Yoz Linden  - Technology scrounger and displaced Londoner
  
• Stephany Linden - Program manager and voice expert
• T Linden - Product Frog

We expect to post here about once a week or so, mixing in Grid Progress reports, new feature ideas and interesting trends in the larger metaverse.

We will use this space to test ideas, highlight interesting developments, and keep you connected to the steady stream of resident-delighting new products and technology. We look forward to extending the dialog with you as we roll into 2009.

After most posts, we’ll be inviting you to join us in extended discussions, although we may mix it up now and then with the occassional survey or poll.

See you in world!