Continuing the time-honored tradition of Second Life avatars swamping into the best or newest Web 2.0 networks, the Plurk micro-blogging service has become fairly popular with SL Residents. Hard to tell how many, but I only use Plurk infrequently and still have 150+ avatars in my network, so a couple thousand sounds like a reasonable estimate. (You're liable to see numerous SLers in the Popular Plurkers tab.) Because it's more dynamic than Facebook and more community-oriented than Twitter, Plurk seems to replicate the Second Life experience on the web better than either network (though both are also popular with Residents.)
Which brings me to Thraxis Epsilon's Plurk HUD, demonstrated above. In a Plurk thread, Nika Dreamscape recommended it to me, and it's pretty powerful. You put the heads-up display on your avatar, enter your Plurk name and password into the configuration file, and from there it's pretty user friendly (if no frills.) Not only can you use it to post Plurks from within Second Life, it automatically creates SLURL teleport links, so you can immediately alert people to in-world locations. After I sent the PLURK in the screenshot above, it displayed (see inset) on my Plurk feed within second. (SLURL to where he sells it for L$250.) I wouldn't be surprised if it became a standard utility for the most active Residents.
I heartily recommend the PlurkHUD. It's extremely useful as it sits on your window awaiting a touch whenever you feel the urge to Plurk. The most useful feature IMHO is "Splurk", where you can instantly plurk not only a message but also a SLURL. Great for Flash Mobs!
Posted by: ArminasX | Monday, October 20, 2008 at 04:05 PM
FriendFeed users may want to give a try to the FFHUD.
With a click you can update your friendfeed.com page with name and description of your in-world location - SLURL included - and add a message by writing it in chat.
FFHUD can also be configured to send your messages to the Second Life FriendFeed Room:
http://friendfeed.com/rooms/secondlife
Here's a typical web output of the FFHUD:
http://friendfeed.com/rooms/ffhud
The script is here, use it freely - at your own risk - and please help me improving it!
http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/User:Opensource_Obscure/FFHUD
Posted by: Opensource Obscure | Monday, October 20, 2008 at 05:09 PM
I'm glad you were able to pick one up, Hamlet. It really is a great way to quickly inform residents about events or to share your location. Its much faster and more convenient than cut/pasting the slurl from map, then going to plurk and typing out a message and pasting the link there. You can do it all within your SL viewer, so its great.
Posted by: Nika Dreamscape | Monday, October 20, 2008 at 05:26 PM
*nods and agrees with @NikaDreamscape*
Posted by: Ganymedes Costagravas | Tuesday, October 21, 2008 at 02:31 PM