IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/bushor/v52y2009i6p563-572.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The fairyland of Second Life: Virtual social worlds and how to use them

Author

Listed:
  • Kaplan, Andreas M.
  • Haenlein, Michael

Abstract

Virtual social worlds, such as the Internet site Second Life, have acquired a high degree of popularity in the popular and business press. In this article we address the increasing importance of virtual social worlds, and discuss how companies can make use of their potential. We first present how virtual social worlds evolved historically, how they fit into the postmodern paradigm of our time, and how they differ from other social media, such as content communities (e.g., YouTube), social networking sites and blogs (e.g., Facebook), collaborative projects (e.g., Wikipedia), and virtual game worlds (e.g., World of Warcraft). We subsequently present how firms can make use of virtual social worlds in the areas of advertising/communication, virtual product sales (v-Commerce), marketing research, human resources, and internal process management. We also highlight the points companies should pay particular attention to in their activities, the 5Cs of success in virtual social worlds, and the future evolutions that we expect to shape this sector over the next 5-10 years: a trend toward standardization and interoperability, improvements in software usability, increasing interconnection between reality and virtual worlds, establishment of law and order, and the transformation of virtual social worlds to business hubs of the future.

Suggested Citation

  • Kaplan, Andreas M. & Haenlein, Michael, 2009. "The fairyland of Second Life: Virtual social worlds and how to use them," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 52(6), pages 563-572, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:bushor:v:52:y:2009:i:6:p:563-572
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0007-6813(09)00089-5
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Cova, Bernard, 1996. "The postmodern explained to managers: Implications for marketing," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 39(6), pages 15-23.
    2. Ann E. Schlosser, 2006. "Learning through Virtual Product Experience: The Role of Imagery on True versus False Memories," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 33(3), pages 377-383, October.
    3. Ralph L. Keeney, 1999. "The Value of Internet Commerce to the Customer," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 45(4), pages 533-542, April.
    4. Schlosser, Ann E, 2003. "Experiencing Products in the Virtual World: The Role of Goal and Imagery in Influencing Attitudes versus Purchase Intentions," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 30(2), pages 184-198, September.
    5. Randall L. Rose & Stacy L. Wood, 2005. "Paradox and the Consumption of Authenticity through Reality Television," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 32(2), pages 284-296, September.
    6. Glen L. Urban & Eric von Hippel, 1988. "Lead User Analyses for the Development of New Industrial Products," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 34(5), pages 569-582, May.
    7. Eric J. Arnould & Craig J. Thompson, 2005. "Consumer Culture Theory (CCT): Twenty Years of Research," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 31(4), pages 868-882, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Heller, Jonas & Chylinski, Mathew & de Ruyter, Ko & Mahr, Dominik & Keeling, Debbie I., 2019. "Let Me Imagine That for You: Transforming the Retail Frontline Through Augmenting Customer Mental Imagery Ability," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 95(2), pages 94-114.
    2. Spielmann, Nathalie & Mantonakis, Antonia, 2018. "In virtuo: How user-driven interactivity in virtual tours leads to attitude change," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 255-264.
    3. Holttinen, Heli, 2014. "Contextualizing value propositions: Examining how consumers experience value propositions in their practices," Australasian marketing journal, Elsevier, vol. 22(2), pages 103-110.
    4. Cowan, Kirsten & Spielmann, Nathalie & Horn, Esther & Griffart, Clovis, 2021. "Perception is reality… How digital retail environments influence brand perceptions through presence," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 86-96.
    5. Bernd Schmitt & J Joško Brakus & Alessandro Biraglia, 2022. "Consumption Ideology [Ideology and Terror: A Novel Form of Government]," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 49(1), pages 74-95.
    6. Giovanna Magnani & Beatrice Re, 2020. "Lived experiences about car sharing in young adults: Emerging paradoxes," Italian Journal of Marketing, Springer, vol. 2020(2), pages 207-229, September.
    7. Zhao, Min & Xia, Lan, 2021. "Joint or separate? The effect of visual presentation on imagery and product evaluation," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 38(4), pages 935-952.
    8. Pedeliento, Giuseppe & Bettinelli, Cristina & Andreini, Daniela & Bergamaschi, Mara, 2018. "Consumer entrepreneurship and cultural innovation: The case of GinO12," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 431-442.
    9. Giovanna Magnani & Beatrice Re, 0. "Lived experiences about car sharing in young adults: Emerging paradoxes," Italian Journal of Marketing, Springer, vol. 0, pages 1-23.
    10. Kibaek Lee & Jaeheung Yoo & Munkee Choi & Hangjung Zo & Andrew P Ciganek, 2016. "Does External Knowledge Sourcing Enhance Market Performance? Evidence from the Korean Manufacturing Industry," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(12), pages 1-19, December.
    11. Oleg Curbatov, 2013. "The 'Knowledge Marketing': A New Trend In A Management Science World," Post-Print hal-01509370, HAL.
    12. Carmela Milano, 2015. "Democratization or else vulgarization of cultural capital? The role of social networks in theater’s audience behavior," Working Papers CEB 15-004, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    13. Daniela Andreini & Diego Rinallo & Giuseppe Pedeliento & Mara Bergamaschi, 2017. "Brands and Religion in the Secularized Marketplace and Workplace: Insights from the Case of an Italian Hospital Renamed After a Roman Catholic Pope," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 141(3), pages 529-550, March.
    14. Liu, Chihling & Keeling, Debbie Isobel & Hogg, Margaret K., 2016. "Strategy narratives and wellbeing challenges: The role of everyday self-presentation," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(1), pages 234-243.
    15. René Riedl & Harald Kindermann & Andreas Auinger & Andrija Javor, 2012. "Technostress from a Neurobiological Perspective," Business & Information Systems Engineering: The International Journal of WIRTSCHAFTSINFORMATIK, Springer;Gesellschaft für Informatik e.V. (GI), vol. 4(2), pages 61-69, April.
    16. Elfvengren, K.Kalle & Karkkainen, Hannu & Torkkeli, Marko & Tuominen, Markku, 2004. "A GDSS based approach for the assessment of customer needs in industrial markets," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(3), pages 275-292, June.
    17. Gwarlann Kerviler & Nico Heuvinck & Elodie Gentina, 2022. "“Make an Effort and Show Me the Love!” Effects of Indexical and Iconic Authenticity on Perceived Brand Ethicality," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 179(1), pages 89-110, August.
    18. Franke, Nikolaus & von Hippel, Eric & Schreier, Martin, 2005. "Finding commercially attractive user innovations: A test of lead user theory," Working papers 4536-05, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Sloan School of Management.
    19. Jinkins, David, 2016. "Conspicuous consumption in the United States and China," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 115-132.
    20. Tian Heong Chan & Shi-Ying Lim, 2023. "The Emergence of Novel Product Uses: An Investigation of Exaptations in IKEA Hacks," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 69(5), pages 2870-2892, May.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:bushor:v:52:y:2009:i:6:p:563-572. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/bushor .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.