Thanks to a bundle of metrics released by Linden Labs today, we can finally make a good estimate of the number of active Aussie users of Second Life.

Australia comes in at 11th as far as the percentage of active users. ‘Active’ is being defined by Linden as having logged in for more than one hour in the previous month. As of the end of January 2007, 1.48% of active users were Australian. Unfortunately no specific number is given. To work out the actual number of active Australian users, we’ll use the Linden estimate that ten percent of those who register stay active. This means:

1. As at 31st January there were 1,974,607 unique residents.
2. Ten percent of that is 197,461.
3. 1.48% of THAT is 2922.

So this means there are roughly 2500 to 3000 active Australian users allowing for variance in the 10% active estimate. As far as the number of Australian unique residents, the only rough estimate can be gained by dividing the overall unique resident figure by the 1.46% figure – which gives 29, 224.

So that’s one mystery at least partly solved – it’s the most common question asked of us here at SLOz and kudos to Linden Lab for their transparency on the figures. More analysis on the figures over the coming days.

ABC staffer Abi Goldflake has provided an update to the ABC Friends group in-world on progress with the island’s development:

“We are very pleased to be working with key Oz creative organisations on the ABC Island
project: LAMP (Laboratory for Advanced Media Production) and AFTRS (Australian Film, TV and Radio School). Gary Hayes from LAMP is providing consultancy services on the development of the ABC Island and he will also be managing the relationship with AFTRS students who will help create 3D builds, sound and music scapes for the island. Will be great to work with ABC Friends on the build too as we progress.”

In an announcement today on the appointment of two new multilingual Linden support staff, the claim was made that a number of other staff have Australian speaking abilities. If you’ve come across such a Linden we’d love to hear from you to test the claims by interviewing the said staff member 😉

Fran Molloy, a freelance journalist from The Age, is looking for aussies who’ve found love in SL. Her specific request is pasted verbatim below:

————————
Hi there – I’m a freelance journalist writing a story about love online for
‘Livewire’ in The Age. I’m looking for someone who fell in love in ‘Second
Life’ and continued their relationship in Real Life.

Does anyone on the forum know someone who might talk to me about their
relationship?

I would need to speak to them in the next couple of weeks. It would be great
if it were someone in Melbourne or Sydney so that I can arrange a
photographer to visit; (although I can often arrange a picture in most other
major Australian metropolitan cities, it’s just a lot more difficult to
organise!)

My contact details are below, I look forward to hearing from you!

Fran Molloy
——————————–
M: 0412 485 677
e: fmolloy@mail.fairfax.com.au
——————————–

With the consultation occurring with Aussies by the ABC on their proposed presence in SL, it’s becoming apparent that the corporate exploration of SL is well and truly underway. Telcos like Telstra are rumoured to be well underway with their development and some other industries are at least looking at the potential.

With Linden Labs being a commercial entity, any argument on whether corporations should be allowed in-world is moot – it’s going to happen. With that in mind, what are the potential good, bad and ugly SL presences likely from Australian corporations? For me, fast food chains would be both bad and ugly, from both an aesthetics and real-life nutrition viewpoint. I really don’t need to see a certain red-nosed clown wandering around SL. That said, surely the corporations themselves will do enough market research to know that imposing replicas of real-life business in-world is likely to create angst rather than buy-in?

Take Telstra for example – they cop a lot of flak in the real world and I can see they’ll have some interesting issues in-world. As SL grows, are there likely to be bands of avatars who are rural Telstra customers in real life, marching on a Telstra island in protest at gaps in service? Wouldn’t that make for some interesting real world media coverage.

On the ‘Good’ side, I’d love to see more education facilities, health facilities (information and perhaps counselling) and people like architects, musicians and the like. They can potentially bring more stimulation to a community. Your thoughts? Who would drive you insane if they set up in-world? Who would inspire you?

Post a comment or check the related thread on our discussion forum

We’re pleased to announce that the ABC, represented by Abi Goldflake , is seeking aussie SL users’ input into a potential presence by the ABC in-world.

Head over to our discussion forum to join in and to give your thoughts.

Direct from the mouth of aussie SL’er Wolfie:

“We’re doing an experimental folk/rock concert at The Kookaburra Pub in
Eragon at 7:30pm Friday [12th Jan] Sydney time or 12:30am SL Time.

It’s live too.

Please come along for a bit of fun 🙂

Wolfie! [Wolfie Rankin]”

Whilst doing a fly-around looking for some land I came across a new area which looks like it’s about to be released, and it has an aussie flavour to say the least: