BigPond has a large presence in Second Life that includes 16 islands showcasing Australian landmarks like Uluru and the Sydney Opera House. The islands are well maintained by an administration team and have residential and commercial areas. BigPond has been successful by hosting many events to keep their space active, giving incentives for users to explore, and listening to community feedback to evolve their islands. However, they must also carefully manage legal and privacy risks that virtual worlds can present.

1. Title: Second Life Presentation Author: Darin Cleary: Senior Business Analyst, Innovation
Embracing New Media: Second Life
10th September 2008
ANZAC Day Service 2008 Australia Day Celebrations 2008

2. 2 Author: Darin Cleary: Senior Business Analyst, InnovationTitle: Second Life Presentation
WHAT PRESENCE DOES BIGPOND HAVE?
• 16 Island Estate
• National landmarks including Uluru, Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Sydney
Opera House
• Round the clock security and monitoring from the administration team –
administration team includes supervisors, developers, events staff who are
trained in mediation and we also have a real life psychologist who volunteers her
time as well
• Active User Forum: http://community.bigpond.com/tlst/
• In-World Technical/Billing Support for BigPond customers and Sales support for
BigPond and non-BigPond customers (only recently launched on 1st September
2008)
• 5 Residential Islands running at 90-100% occupancy rate
• Commercial Tenants spread across the public islands
• Unmetered for BigPond customers – usage does not count towards their
download limit
• A range of regular activities (inlcuding national holidays) and competitions are
run

3. 3 Author: Darin Cleary: Senior Business Analyst, InnovationTitle: Second Life Presentation
ESTATE MAP
SydSIM Islands proposed
new configuration

4. 4 Author: Darin Cleary: Senior Business Analyst, InnovationTitle: Second Life Presentation
IS IT SUCCESSFUL?

5. 5 Author: Darin Cleary: Senior Business Analyst, InnovationTitle: Second Life Presentation
SOME KEYS TO SUCCESS
1. Have A Plan – It is not as easy as you think. If you have private
islands you need to have a plan to attract an audience.
2. Be Flexible – One of the great things about these environments is
that you can change things very quickly and also drop down new
builds in the blink of an eye.
3. Giving is Better Than Receiving – You don’t have to give away
everything but freebies often help and it encourages people to
explore your presence for long periods
4. Keep the Seats Warm – Keeping people coming back is hard and
you need to constantly hold events and/or keep your presence
changing and evolving to ensure it does not become stale. This is the
biggest mistake that corporate brands have made in Second Life
5. Listen to the Community

6. 6 Author: Darin Cleary: Senior Business Analyst, InnovationTitle: Second Life Presentation
WHAT’S HAPPENING IN-WORLD?
• Exploring, Meeting New People
• Buying Clothing and Accessories
• Renting or Buying Land
• Getting Married
• Buying Art
• Role Playing
Individual Activities Corporate Activities
• Recruitment
• Product Prototyping
• Knowledge Sharing and Collaboration
• Innovating
• Networking
• Cost Reduction & Remote Working
• Conferences
• Presentation and Conference Calling
• Exploring
• Selling Virtual Products and Services
• Selling real life products and services
• Reaching New and Existing Customers

7. 7 Author: Darin Cleary: Senior Business Analyst, InnovationTitle: Second Life Presentation
WHAT’S HAPPENING IN-WORLD?
Some Interesting Entertainment areas to check out!
ABC Island (1)
CSI New York (400)
CBS
I Am Legend (4)
Warner Bros
The L Word (8)
Showtime
BigPond (17)
Gossip Girl (3)
CW Network

8. 8 Author: Darin Cleary: Senior Business Analyst, InnovationTitle: Second Life Presentation
RISKS
There are a number of risks in running a virtual world presence and an
important part of the risk mitigation strategy is a 24hr administration
team in-world and a permanent in-world employee to run a volunteer
team. These risk include:
• Losing control of coporate message
• Negative Image
• Commerce - high risk and low return
• Hacking & IP Rights

9. 9 Author: Darin Cleary: Senior Business Analyst, InnovationTitle: Second Life Presentation
Legal Issues
* Second Life - or in other words get some IP advice, quick!
* Creators own IP
* Start up issues:
-VB branding used in the Billabong Bar
-Virtual Opera House
-Virtual Uluru
-Music Rights

10. 10 Author: Darin Cleary: Senior Business Analyst, InnovationTitle: Second Life Presentation
Legal Issues
* Brand/TM/copyright infringement is a regular occurrence (Pond
Life Magazine)

11. 11 Author: Darin Cleary: Senior Business Analyst, InnovationTitle: Second Life Presentation
Legal Issues
Launch of Pondi Beach and “Pondi Icebergs”

12. 12 Author: Darin Cleary: Senior Business Analyst, InnovationTitle: Second Life Presentation
Legal Issues
Launch of SydSim
Copyright infringement in the underlying architectural plans in buildings

13. 13 Author: Darin Cleary: Senior Business Analyst, InnovationTitle: Second Life Presentation
Legal Issues
Ongoing live concerts and performances

14. 14 Author: Darin Cleary: Senior Business Analyst, InnovationTitle: Second Life Presentation
Demonstrations
Video Posted by builder of the original BigPond presence launched in March 2007 (you will see some
aspects that were included in the original build but never made it past legal):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zncn_aPXMb8
STA Travel Dance Party Hosted by BigPond:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9N-K6aoZTjg
CSI: New York cross over episode in Second Life:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggVGEdwgCvQ
Gossip Girl Presence:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwBMrudkWEM&NR=1
The L Word
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTOxq4ZKVVY
Suzanna Vega
Sings The Queen and the Soldier - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFCpsxb6m8s
Building The Suzanne Vega Guitar - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQL8_HB1HtQ
Building a City from National Mapping Data:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCHwHG6RCeE

15. 15 Author: Darin Cleary: Senior Business Analyst, InnovationTitle: Second Life Presentation
QUESTIONS
Darin Cleary
Senior Business Analyst, Innovation
darin.cleary@team.telstra.com
http://my.bigpond.com/pond/secondlife/