Since the launch of the social web Profiles by Linden Lab, one of the most requested features users have asked to see is the inclusion of a Twitter-like FOLLOW capability. At SLCC 2011 Viale Linden hinted that the function might be coming along.
And he wasn’t wrong.
Linden Lab have now launched the ability for people to “follow” others through the web profiles.
To use it, simply go to my.secondlife.com/first.last (where first.last is obviously your own avatar name) and log-in. Then select the profile of the person you wish to follow in the browser url bar (again “my.secondlife.com/first.last” – where first.last is their avatar name). This will display that person’s web profile, thus:
Note the FOLLOW button
Clicking the FOLLOW button will allow you to receive that person’s messages on your Feed page, allowing for any privacy options set – see below.
For those who use the web profiles Feed, this is a powerful new option, potentially delivering notifications of events, activities, and so on from others who pro-actively use web profiles and the Feed option directly to a single point they can review either in-world (if their Viewer supports web profiles) or on a single web page.
For merchants and entertainers, it presents another means of getting word out about events and goings-on by encouraging people to use their own feeds and then using the FOLLOW option.
There are a couple of points to note:
If the person has their Feed privacy set to FRIENDS/NOBODY, you will not receive any Feed messages from them regardless as to whether you follow them (unless they accept you as a Friend where FRIENDS is concerned)
The same applies to your own Feed – if you set your Feed privacy to FRIENDS/NOBODY, people will be restricted in their ability to receive your feed messages.
The system may yet be refined further; I’ve already suggested to Linden Lab it might be an idea to add something along the lines of a “Friends and Followers” privacy option. As it stands, it is a useful addition to web profiles, and one that is sure to be welcomed.
Linden lab have added a new category to the latest Viewer Search (V2 + TPVs): the ability to search for support items.
The support options can be displayed by either selecting SUPPORT from the drop-down list of search options at the top of the Search window, or by clicking on the SUPPORT option towards the bottom left of the window. Bother of these will refresh Search and display a set of six check boxes you can use to refine your search of support subjects (note that you will probably have to resize the window to see all six). These are:
Linden Lab Policies
Knowledge Base
Answers
Forums
Blogs
All wiki
By default, the first three options are checked as active. Search results themselves can be displayed either in your Viewer’s media browser or in your web browser, depending on how you have set your browser preferences.
Typical support search result displayed in the Viewer’s media browser
Overall, a useful and considered addition to Search.
During SLCC 2011 Rod Humble mentioned that Premium accounts would be improving during the current months in terms of the benefits afforded to those taking out such memberships, and at “no extra cost”. Also during the convention, Vogt Linden indicated the Linden Homes may well be up for an overhaul as they weren’t perhaps performing as expected.
Quite what the changes to Premium memberships were to be, or whether changes to Linden Homes would be an immediate part and parcel of the changes or something separate, wasn’t made clear during the convention. It also sounded like the changes might be a little way down the road.
Well, in the latter regard, it appears that we didn’t have long to wait for things to start changing.
Today, Linden Lab have formally announced changes to Premium accounts, “starting with exclusive gifts and sandboxes”. Here’s a couple of extracts from the announcement:
“Premium members will regularly receive exclusive virtual items that you won’t find anywhere else. The very first gift is a stylish set of furniture crafted by Colleen Desmoulins of The Loft. The set features a sofa, tables, plants and lamps to enhance your home’s cozy factor. You can change the look of most of the furniture to fit your home’s unique style and decor — whether you live in a Linden Home or elsewhere.”
And:
“Explore your creative side or just get down to the business of creating without the distractions of a more public space in one of the many Premium-only Sandboxes in Second Life. There are four new, exclusive Premium-only Sandbox Islands you can access right now to give you more room than ever to bring your creations to life. Members can visit right now.”
I’m actually all in favour of seeing Premium accounts overhauled and improved – but I’m curious as to how the gifts such as the furniture mentioned above are selected. The words “exculsive” and “won’t find anywhere else” suggest the items have been especially commissioned by Linden Lab. If this is so, it’s probably going to raise eyebrows (and questions) as to how the content creators making the gifts are being selected, and whether they are being renumerated by LL, etc. This in turn could easily lead to some negativity and claims of preferential treatment / the creation of yet another FIC.
The idea of gifts needs to be carefully balanced in other ways as well: while they may encourage newcomers to sign-up for Premium, but give away too many practical gifts and there is a risk of being accused of “strangling” commerce. Take this initial offering: furniture. As the announcement states, the items could be used within a newcomer’s Linden home – so at a stroke, LL appear to have “prevented” any need for newcomers taking up Premium membership for having any need to go shopping for basic SL “needs”.
So while a welcome idea, this is going to need some consideration and thought as it rolls forward, lest it results in upset elsewhere.
Premium sandboxes are liable to prove popular among those that cannot afford to set aside prims / space for their building work, and as such are liable to be less potentially fractious.
As a long-term SL “resident”, these two aren’t enough to encourage me beck into the realm of Premium membership – not for the concerns raised above, but simply because I already have so many things in my inventory, it is hard to conceive of a “must have” gift I don’t already have, or would be willing to buy from a fellow content creator anyway. Similarly (and while I may be in a minority), I have all the private build space I need, so exclusive sandboxes aren’t an attraction.
Which is not to say I dismiss what LL are trying to achieve. Far from it.
Rather, this initial benefits seem aimed towards the “newer” user within in SL, rather than the “established” user base (where Premium accounts are in the minority). Ergo, if the hope is to encourage more “oldbies” to revert back to Premium / take out Premiums for the first time, it is probable that LL are going to have to offer different incentives to those of us who have been around the block a few times.
Nevertheless, beefing-up Premiums is a good idea, and a lot of people are sure to be watching what develops in this area in the coming months.
Addendum 1st Sept 4:17 PDT
Linden Lab updated their blog post to include a video extolling Premium membership, which I’ve embedded below.
Mesh has been rolled-out to the Main grid. Doubtless, there will be some tweaking and nips and tucks, plus we already have the promise of further improvements / updates in the future – and the rendering code has yet to find its way into widespread use – but this is the start of something new and hopefully full of potential for SL.
Kkudos to Rodvik, Charlar, Runitai and all at Linden Lab and all those users who worked through the Beta programme and the Mesh/Live Volunteers programme for making this possible in Second Life.
YouTube is awash with mesh-related videos, but to mark the roll-out I thought I’d pin and handful of my favourites here.
And because it is so stunning, Rockerfaerie’s video of Claudia222 Jewell’s amazing creations:
Update Thursday August 25th: In a comment on the revised JIRA, Charlar Linden states: Charlar Linden updated SH-2341:Status: Expected Behavior (was: Open) Resolution: Not Applicable – thanks – this flag would have no effect, and is being removed soon.
Ciaran Laval has been investigating mesh from a sim owner’s standpoint, and came upon the fact that LL have added new regional controls related to mesh.
New region setting
As Ciaran reports, the latest mesh-enabled Beta Viewer includes an option to allow / deny the rezzing of mesh objects within a region. By default, the option is set to ALLOW mesh, although currently, there appears to be a bit of a bug in the system – if you uncheck the option, it re-check itself on hitting APPLY. This may just be a hiccup in the Beta that LL are already aware of, but to be on the safe side, Ciaran has also raised a JIRA on the matter – be sure to WATCH it!
Given this issue with the option at present, it is not clear what will happen to mesh objects that are currently rezzed in-world should the option be toggled to disable mesh. Will they be returned, or will they fail to render in all viewers & any scripts they contain be disabled? One would hope for the latter (allowing for issues around collisions, physics, etc.), as the former could present a lot of angst.
The capability isn’t granular to the level of individual parcels, which is understandable given that mesh will impact an entire sim regardless of where it is placed. However, as things are refined and improved over time, it would be interesting to see if such granularity of control could be introduced in time.
Overall the addition of this capability is a very good move; mesh stands to be potentially very beneficial for Second Life, but it also carries not a few potential risks. Thus, the inclusion of this option allows estate / sim owners worried about negative impacts to disable mesh rendering from the start, allowing them to observe how mesh impacts the rest of the grid before opting to allow it.
Expect to see this option in main Viewer when the Beta is rolled over to a full release.
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 