Linden Lab, Which Has Way Less YouTube Subscribers Than Strawberry Singh, Really Should Know More About Its Top Content Creators

Even though Linden Lab posted a profuse public apology for the takedown request the company sent to top SL YoutTuber Strawberry Singh (which she graciously accepted), something more should be said about this brief dust-up before this week is done. Starting with two facts:

• Here's how many subscribers Linden Lab's YouTube channel currently has: 1173
• Here's how many subscribers Strawberry Singh's YouTube channel currently has: 10,056

Yes: In terms of YouTube reach, what Strawberry says (and shows) about Second Life is roughly 10x more influential than what the actual company that owns Second Life says. [12/17, see UPDATE below]  So it's mind-boggling to me that Linden Lab staff would just hit someone so important to their success with such an impersonal takedown request. Then again, while Second Life has roughly 600,000 regular users, I'd estimate there's maybe 2000-5000 users who who have large followings (over 1000 or more, let's say) on their social media channels, and share SL content there on the regular. There are all kinds of social media tools for tracking (and engaging with) those number of people and more. Which makes us wonder how engaged or aware the company really is with its user community's thought leaders -- or what needs to change about the company's culture, to better connect the two.

Something to talk about on the weekend -- see you Monday!

UPDATE, 11/17: Strawberry Singh and reader Amanda point out that Linden Lab also has a separate YouTube channel for Second Life with 23,000+ subscribers. This is true, but also affirms how little reach that channel has compared to all the SL YouTubers out there. Also, in terms of reach and views, the official Second Life channel has only uploaded 7 videos this year -- compared to Strawberry's 140+ SL-related videos uploaded just this year alone, garnering far more total views.

Comments

[jackson]

Lawyers are in love with themselves, not their clients or the people their clients depend upon for their livelihoods.

[mini god]

i have read whole of your article and i really like it. Thanks for sharing.

[Amanda]

The Second Life Youtube channel, owned by Linden Lab, has over 23,000 subscribers and a lot more content than the Linden Lab channel. That doesn't excuse what they did to Strawberry and others but your claim that Strawberry is 10x more influential is not supported by the numbers. I would guess her followers are more engaged.

I'm surprised you didn't know there is a SL Youtube channel separate from the Linden Lab channel.

https://www.youtube.com/user/Secondlife/featured

[Dartagan Shepherd]

@Amanda: That may be true but collectively users promote SL far more than LL promotes SL.

In fact, everything LL makes is because of its users. They don't produce anything but a mechanism to make large amounts of money from users making micro-incomes.

Part of why I left and haven't looked back is because A) LL is horrible at development and business in general and B) because they treat users as a necessary evil.

I moved to game development and finally this coming year I'm going back to manufacturing where I'm in complete control of my income, marketing and have less middlemen like LL, and I'd rather work with my hands, which was my first love.

As an added bonus, my products will still be useful when the power goes out.

[Amanda]

@Dartagan All that is true but this article and the headline are not only misleading but completely false. I have a hard time believing Hamlet doesn't know that the youtube channel he references isn't the main youtube channel for SL.

LL should hire people like Strawberry to promote SL. She'd be great for promoting the SL fashion world. LL has proven time and again that traditional corporate PR doesn't work for SL. I'd say traditional advertising does't work either but LL hasn't done that much advertising of any kind. They won't do it because they don't understand their own product.

[Hamlet Au]

Updated the post. In my Friday rush, I actually forgot LL had a separate SL channel and assumed SL videos were put in a playlist within the LL channel.

[Clara Seller]

Amanda is right about the numbers, but this whole ordeal highlights how being "right" isn't necessarily being smart.

You really have to hand it to Strawberry Singh. She's created a very powerful persona like Glenda The Good Witch. You definitely don't want to gun down her bubble as she flies over, even if she was trespassing.

[techsheap]

To continue getting the best YouTube experience, upgrade to the most up-to-date version of the app. With app version 12.13, you'll need to accept new app permissions before updating on Android OS versions 5.0 and 5.1. You'll see a notification asking you to accept these new permissions. Allowing YouTube to have ...

thanks