Sigh, more negative media =(

Gee, accoording to one poster, the search engine is fine. We're too stupid to use it properly

Exactly (and very well observed). The normal web lives or dies on the quality of the search engines that connect people to what they are looking for. SL is no different.

Darn! I guess we forgot to take search engine class when we joined.

[Pictures the scene.] Kinda gives the expression "Silicon Valley" a whole new meaning, doesn't it?

I tried to go, but I couldn't find it.
It didn't show up in search.

The only real world presences I have noticed are real estate companies who have modestly sized offices in or near malls and other such places were people will notice them while exploring. Now if they are selling FL property or SL land I am not sure, never really cared, but I noticed them at least. Companies buying whole island solely devoted to their RL products will not draw anyone... ever. I have to agree they either have to put them selves where the average resident will likely wander by... *cough* mainland *cough*, or set up a club or some other attraction, and have events to draw people there.

Second Life is a world unto its self, you have to promote your product, you have to let people know you are there and have something you want them to look at or buy. This mean promoting some form of attraction, or do as the Real Estate companies do and place yourself where you will get noticed by foot traffic, or both!

When I start selling things one thing I will do is set up a vendor at the base of the radar tower at my personal residence as I know it gets some traffic. I can sit on my deck and every once in a while some one will wander by checking out my neighbors beautiful garden spaces and my place, and on rare occasion when I greet them they will come up to my deck and chat a while. Hell I am not even selling anything yet and I draw attention to my land!

It's just very difficult to determine a "fair" way to rank search results.

Google based its ranking on how many other sites link *to* the target site. But this is really hard to do in Second Life, because the only equivalent of a "link to" is a Pick, and people don't always Pick all the places they like (they don't Pick every shop they like, for example). Moreover, people _do_ Pick arbitrary places in order to include photos of their loved ones on their profiles.

Also, Google ranking has been criticised for making it impossible for new sites to be noticed, and that would be very negative in SL.

Absolutely agree: Just like you see Altria all over the Whitney (ever so tastefully, of course), why not on a resurrected Starry Night sim?

That said, I kinda think the Coke-bashing rather misses the point of what Coke has been doing in-world. They *got* the competition idea (even the Wired article mentions it) as a way of associating with in-world content creators. And they *got* that their presence in SL is not about making avatars drink Coke, but rather promotion of the Coke brand image, which is at least as important as the fizzy stuff they're actually using in RL as a vehicle for monetizing that brand. (In RL, Starbucks is completely explicity about the brand being more important than the product: they're about "community", not coffee.) There are definitely problems with execution: the Coke build is about as unimaginative a corporate edifice as possible--it could be for any other corporation with a bit of retexturing. And the fact that their virtual vendor competition is apparently widely unknown suggests their in-world marketing consultants don't know how to work the levers that get word out to the masses. But really, imho, the Coke corporate folks aren't as clueless as the postings here suggest.

LOL. I'm surprised I could even find the forums this afternoon. Went to the pub at lunchtime, and having read some of my recent posts..well.. I'll be ordering extra drinks next time just to ensure I *don't* find this place.

Fair points, but as SL isn't an internet browser, and the search facility required is fundamentally different, I assume they'd take a different approach -- perhaps one involving architectural changes to the client -- but that wouldn't negate the benefits of their experience in the search industry.

Um, talk about speculative. I'll stop dreaming soon.

Coke is at a bit of a disadvantage advertizing in a virtual world.

Its not like your Avatar gets thirsty -

And Coke has already totally saturated most people with a TV / Radio anyway with advertizing.

The nice thing about websites is that they're a form of peer review. Moreover they are a form of peer review that _costs_something_ (you have to pay to host your website, and you have to have sufficient content on your website to make people want to visit, not just a big list of links) which regulates it.

SL originally did have several ranking systems based on peer review but it fell apart because they either didn't cost anything or they made back more than they cost. If it doesn't cost anything to vote, then you can just vote for all your friends, no matter what you actually think of their builds. If it makes back more than it costs, then you can just pay some L$ to anyone who votes for you (exactly the same as how camping works now).