not impressed with corporations setting up branded islands
That's what Italian workers with IBM are planning - a virtual protest (a world first, apparently) against a $1,377 paycut on September 25th. IBM has a large corporate campus and marketing site in SL, so there should be plenty of room for whoever wants to show up.
The good news: the corporate backlash hasn't dampened BT's enthusiasm. It's built a private island called Area 21 (as in Area 51, 21CN - get it‾). Why‾ Because '[t]his is about how we integrate BT's communications services that are exposed as part of the Web21C platform, into virtual environments," says Matthew Brotherton, project manager at the Applied Technology Centre in BT's chief technology office.
Yes. That'll bring them through the door.
Maybe they should try a marketing gimmick. Like, say, a beauty contest to pick the 12 sexiest avatars for a calendar to be published in real life.
Oh, wait. Someone thought of that. Still, maybe BT could be a sponsor. Or IBM, for that matter.