Facebook Now in Similar Position With Consumers and Competitors as Second Life, Says Former Linden Lab VP

Everyone seems to be mad at Facebook lately, mainly over privacy policy and Terms of Service concerns. The controversy inspired an interesting post on the blog of Ginsu Yoon, who until 2009 was the Lindens' VP of Corporate Development and previously, the company's lawyer. As he sees it, Facebook is now in a similar place in relation to consumers and would-be competitors that Second Life was, during his tenure there. As he puts it:

At Second Life, we... had a seemingly omnipotent grip on the environment our users needed. In theory, we knew our users intimately, knew who their friends were, knew where they went and what they did. We owned their means of payment and communication, we set policy for their leisure and commercial activities. This is a level of control that Facebook dreams of, not in a virtual world but for the entire Web . . . and it’s scary that they actually seem to be on the path to getting there.

In the case of Second Life, Gene continues, Linden policy changes would inevitably alienate some of the world's most dedicated users. Because of this, some saw an opportunity to create an alternative: "A few critics assumed that since our every change seemed to hurt some users, it should be easy to build a competitor that would satisfy all users." But as SL keeps growing its user base, would-be rivals like OpenSim failed to gain traction; not even Google could compete. The problem, he argues, is that these competitors misunderstood why SL was working in the first place:

Our operation was so multifaceted and complex that every competitor only focused on the one or two things that they believed were important, and individually or collectively they never assembled a cohesive whole that could challenge our market dominance.

The kicker: "I’m seeing the same thing today with Facebook’s critics." And due to that same misjudgment, he suggests, Facebook alternatives like Diaspora* do not grasp what they're competing against.

It's a fascinating analysis; read it all here. I think he's right, and Facebook will continue growing despite the many controversies. (My friend Farhad Manjoo at Slate has a good analysis here.) As for Second Life, it has only a fraction of Facebook's user numbers, but despite (or perhaps occasionally because of) all its own fracases, it keeps growing too. To grow truly large, in my view, Second Life still needs something Ginsu Linden says Facebook's competitors do not have: "[A]n overriding service reason to spur adoption and use."

Photo of Ginsu by Joi Ito.

Comments

[Ignatius Onomatopoeia]

"would-be rivals like OpenSim failed to gain traction"

Seems a bit premature to claim that, Hamlet. OS grids lack SL's community, but I've found a small but growing population of educators at Reaction Grid and Heritage Key.

[Tizzers Foxchase]

"To grow truly large, in my view, Second Life still needs something Ginsu Linden says Facebook's competitors do not have: "[A]n overriding service reason to spur adoption and use."

Correct.

Virtual worlds like Second Life fail to capture the attention of the mainstream because they lack a compelling "killer app" which answers the question "Why should we be using this again?"

Until that question is answered, they will continue to be sandbox worlds where people play house and socialize with other users that fit into the niche early adopter demographic.

[Ann Otoole]

Maybe if the tech CEOs came to comprehend a: They are not the President nor are they elected representatives and by attempting to control the internet they are pushing it into the government's hands which will remove control from the companies, and b: discussing what is good for the future with sycophants because engaging with critics is uncomfortable is bound to lead to disasters.

This issue has also spread to Apple with Steve Job's deciding what will and what will not be available within the Apple walled garden.

Me? I'm just one of the victims of what happens. If the tech CEOs screw it all up then what can I do except wish for the old days when the internet was a free place for creativity ind innovation.

[rightasrain]

Even in the afterglow of Linden World Ginsu has delisions of SL grandeur. The scale of Facebook puts it in Google's leagure of 100's millions of users and beyond any useful comparison with SL which dropped the ball with 100's of thousands.

[Hamlet Au]

RRR, Ginsu isn't comparing SL to Facebook in terms of numbers, just in terms of its relationship with its users and would-be competitors.

[Nexus Burbclave]

As somebody who dislikes many policies in both (particularly shifts in privacy policies), but hasn't discovered the straw that's compelled me to leave either service, I'm inclined to believe that Ginsu has the right of it.

[FlipperPA Peregrine]

The big question, is SL most closely parallel to AOL, GeoCities, Friendster, MySpace, or Facebook?

Regards,

-Flip

[Lili]

There is a reason for the disconnect between companies and their users; companies are not the users. The companies make a product with whatever vision they have for it's use, but most often, users have a different take on it. As many of us SL users already know, SL is not facebook. SL is a playground where you can play serious, silly, indifferent or just be an observer. Linden Lab doesn't get it, and never will until they actually use "the playground" the same way as the users.

As for facebook, I have to admit that I don't fully understand the users need. I'm not putting them down and I'm sure they have very valid needs; I just don't understand it. But I can still see the similarity of the disconnect between users and the companies.

[Okaaaaay...]

I think one of our biggest fears of the future is governments using technology to spy on their citizens. Thankfully we have the privacy of Second Life to escape to.

[LittleLostLinden]

Yep. I've said it many times before and I'll say it again. FaceBook is an invasion of privacy and you should ditch your FB accounts.

http://gizmodo.com/5530178/top-ten-reasons-you-should-quit-facebook

[brinda allen]

I see Secondlife as a "World"...as was said above, a place one can escape to.
For me Secondlife is a place I can come, stay as long as I want, meet *face to face* with people from all over the world.
Facebook seems to be a place one can log in to, spend a few minutes checking who has said what on your *wall* and log out without ever really communicating with those you can't meet randomly.

@ Lili...Well said. The lack of immersion by those that make policy decisions is truly what I see for the disconnect between how Secondlife started and how it's run now.

@ Ann... As always a good look at the future, scary isn't it?