Social Networking. It's one of those modern buzzwords that you can't escape these days, and with good reason. Sites like Myspace and Facebook have become immensely popular, allowing people to meet, promote themselves, catch up with old friends, keep in touch and much much more. And this is no longer just the domain of the hip down-with-it kids, using it as a way to pass notes to their mates without the neanderthal ignorant grown-ups knowing what's going on. I was saying to someone just the other day, that the moment I knew that Facebook has gotten too popular was when I got a friend request from my mum.

So, social networking is now available for every person on the planet to keep up with their friends, show off their sparkly profile, and let everyone keep up to date on their current status. So, if your real life human can have one, why not your second life avatar? Some people have thought this, and I have seen profile for avatars on myspace, and even a tool to link your facebook page to your sl account. However, some bright sparks have gone a step further, and set up their own social networking websites, specifically designed for sl residents. I managed to grab some time with the creators of the two frontrunners in this new market, Yo Brewster, owner/creator of http://www.slprofiles.com/, and Luc Aubret, the man behind "Rezzednet" which can be found at http://www.rezzed.net/

Voodoo: What was the inspiration behind the sites?

Yo Brewster: After doing some research on Second Life I realized that about 60% of Second Life users have created something in Second Life. I figured that the only way for me to stand out would be to spend tons of money through advertising or to create a site where I could advertise my Second Life creations for free (none so far). I'm not sure this was the best approach since a site like this requires a lot of time and dedication but that was the true reason for starting up SLProfiles.com.
Luc Aubret: I was reading an article about a popular blogger who was kicked off of Facebook for using his nom de plume on the account. Using real names is something I've always liked about Facebook - there's nothing worse than sorting through names like "coitalbunny1979" and "LimpBizkitLover23" trying to figure out whether or not you know that person. But it occurred to me that in the metaverse, many of us think of our avatars as separate people with separate lives, and I figured those people deserved a social networking site as well, and one that was specifically geared to the peculiarities of Second Life. And I'd been drinking a fair bit of beer, which makes every goofball idea seem excellent.

Voodoo: Rezzednet has quite a similar style to Facebook, while Slprofiles has a lot in common with Myspace. What were your reasons behind that? Was that design choice intentional?

Luc Aubret: Well... yes and no. We don't want it to look exactly like Facebook, and we were certainly not attempting to co-opt the image. What we did want was something familiar enough in layout that people would be able to tell on first glance what it was. And we wanted an inviting, inoffensive color scheme that wouldn't pose unnecessary accessibility issues. Most of all, we wanted an uncluttered interface that was direct, to-the-point, and easy to navigate.
Yo Brewster: My goal was basically to create a clean MySpace site for Second Life. Why try to reinvent the wheel when somebody has proven that their concept works? Since our site is truly geared towards Second Life users, many people feel much more at home at SLP.

Voodoo: Luc, one of the successes of Facebook is allowing other people to add open source applications to it. Are there plans to do similar things with Rezzednet?

Luc Aubret: Adding open-source applications like that requires a pretty major framework. We've discussed the idea, and like it, but at the moment we're focused on providing the most direct tools we can to make the site useful and fun.

Voodoo: What is your aim with the site, and judging it by that yardstick, how much of a success has it been?

Yo Brewster: Since we weren't the oldest Profile site on the market, I used to compare member and usage stats with others out there. It was nice to see how fast we were able to become #1 in this rather small market. Financially we're basically not making any money due to the amount of bandwidth we're using but hey at least I got a free trip to Linden Lab out of it! No, the best reward for me and Jaxi would have been the surprise party that was organized by our members last year ( http://www.slprofiles.com/secondlifeblog.asp?a=comments&id=5319 ). It was nice to see that our members recognized how much time we've actually invested in this site.
Luc Aubret: Hell, I was just glad to get it working. Just kidding. Our aim is simply to create an active community where people could come together, network, and share their experiences. Socially, yes, but also professionally (RezzedNet is broken into sub-networks such as Content Creation, Business, etc.). We haven't set number goals or anything like that; we're more interested in the quality of experience than the quantity of users. Of course, a large number of users will greatly improve the usefulness of any social networking site, but we want to make sure that traffic is meaningful. To that end, I'd say we're doing pretty well. We were blessed with a wonderful group of early adopters who helped us work out the beta kinks and establish a strong community. I've read some great blogs, poked around in some really fun photo albums, and attended events posted on our site. You know, exactly the kind of thing the site was designed to do. Personally, I think the biggest measure of success is the fact that the logo graphic sitting on the top of our site was customized by one of our members, Ryker Beck. We found the edited image on her blog and asked her if we could use it. How cool is that?

Voodoo: How has the feedback been from sl residents about the site, and have you had any problems with people abusing it?

Luc Aubret: Feedback has been really great. Our community has been really helpful in terms of providing excellent, useful feedback. While we've had a lot of very satisfying compliments on the site, it's the "what if you tried this?" feedback that we really dig. As for abuse, well... I don't want to jinx it, but we've set up RezzedNet a bit different in a way I think will help curb abuse. RezzedNet is strong on accountability; we use your avatar name as your user name, and ask new users to sign up through an in-world terminal (seriously, it takes like 30 seconds to sign up though) to make sure you have a legitimate SL account. We also have a really open no-censorship policy (go ahead and flame if you like, just don't be a racist, etc.) and our community has rewarded us for that by being really respectful of each other. Of course, we just put in forums, so... let the flames begin, ha ha.
Yo Brewster: Nearly daily I receive kuddos from new and existing members. Jaxi Morrison, our co-admin, does an excellent job in keeping the site nice and clean. Sure we have some minor issues here and there but that's to expect when you're receiving about 2,000,000 page views a month.

Voodoo: What are you future plans for the site?

Luc Aubret: Our first goal was to provide the tools for interaction - blogs, events, forums, private messaging, photos, groups, etc. - and to get the interface just right. Now we're going to be pushing hard for new community members, and working on keeping the community jazzed and active. We're working on making RezzedNet an even more attractive place for businesses and groups to interact with the Second Life public; you can, for example, establish customer groups, schedule open events and advertise them, and announce new products in the forums and blogs. And we're working on even more tools that will help with that. We want to constantly remind users that social networking doesn't stop at editing your profile; you can use hold group discussions, post job listings, find people who know how to do that thing you've been trying to figure out in Blender... We've got immediate plans for a Classifieds section and more long-term plans for instant messaging; video uploads, and lots more. We'd like to see RezzedNet provide as many tools for social interaction as possible.

Voodoo: Finally, why should people sign up for your site?

Yo Brewster: It's the perfect place to find friends or to launch your Second Life business. We're the only profile site out there with so many tools geared to Second Life: Mini Profiles for your Web Tab, List your Apez/SLX/Onrez products for sale on your profile, Free SL Gadget and Online Friends Monitor, Second Life Jobs, Second Life Places, SL Stats, SL T-Shirt Creator, and so on.
Luc Aubret: Because it's awesome. No, really. We're just starting out and we're really excited to be doing this, and we're coming up with new features all the time. The interface is user-friendly and fun. Most importantly, it's not some cookie-cutter script mashup; we're really integrating this with SL wherever we can, so it's designed around this community of people and really customized to work with this online world. Most importantly, though, our community is super-cool, and it's the community that really makes the site. We want cool people to come add themselves to the mix and be part of something exciting and innovative. Plus, it's free, and who doesn't like free?

Oh and btw.... if anyone wants to add me you can find me at http://www.slprofiles.com/slprofiles.asp?id=12207 or http://www.rezzed.net/profile.php?user=Voodoo%20Buwan.
See you all on there! ;)