CG Communications

As an aspiring communications practitioner, I have a good grasp on social networks and the role they play in the PR industry and in every day life. Even though I may not be as active in them as I should be, I understand why others are. The ability to connect and share information with people around the world is an alluring feature of these networks and the Internet as a whole. They allow us to explore and share experiences with a tap of a key and the click of a mouse.

On that note, I see no harm in participating in on-line social networks such as Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and YouTube, though I do have my reservations about Second Life.

From a business perspective, I’m excited to explore Second Life. I see a tremendous amount of potential and a wealth of opportunities in communities like it. The ability to communicate and network is endless. The potential for organizations to speak to their publics is priceless. Second Life alone has 13,868,639 users or “residents” in its virtual world.

With that being said, from a personal viewpoint, I worry about a world where we pay money to own non-existent virtual property. I worry about our youth and how they will cope with real world situations, if their lives are lived in virtual societies based on fiction. I’m concerned that they will spend more time and effort creating a fictional life rather than living the ones they have .

“I’ve become fascinated with the fact that more and more people are spending increasing dollars and hours in the virtual world. And I’m very interested from a public policy perspective about the impact it is going to have on our physical reality.”

Gerri Sinclair

I would really enjoy hearing feedback on your own virtual experiences and why or why not you choose to participate in virtual worlds.