Why I still hope LL will improve ‘My SL’

Tags

facebook, my second life, social media

In 2015 Linden Lab announced they would not be developing the “My Second Life” part of the Second Life Website any further.
I think this is a mistake and hope they will change their mind.

I have written about this before but after having FB block my account just recently and it’s been 2 years since LL stopped development, I thought I’d bring it up again.

I think there is a huge need for a social media tool for Second Life residents, a need that the current  “My Second Life” (that name really doesn’t work), can’t fulfill.
So countless of us can be found on Facebook, where we find the tools we need even though we know we risk being spotted and have our accounts deleted.

MSL is more like Twitter than like Facebook I reckon, you see  few posts with pictures or links and that is about it.
I must confess I never use it.

So lets imagine, Linden Lab FINALLY hires me because I am so brilliant and have answers for everything, am witty, polite, gorgeous and modest.
What would I do to improve MSL?

Integrated chat system

I would add the option to chat with other people via MSL, click their name, choose chat, little window opens and you can talk, in private.
I’d also, here it comes, connect this chat option with chat INWORLD.
Can you imagine?
You want to talk to a friend who is inworld in Second Life and just start chatting with them without having to start your SL viewer or even use a computer, as this would easily work from the browser on your phone or tablet.

Community Pages

I’d give every SL group their own page, a little bit like we now have Places Pages for each parcel.
If you have a group in SL, you automatically get a page.
Here you’ll find information, people can chat on the “wall”, share pictures and above all; there is an event’s calendar.
You and group admins with the right permission, can create events for your group (which generally is also related to a sim, club or community in SL) and all members get an invite, a reminder when the event is about to begin and can accept or decline the invite.
This way on your own page you will also see a calendar with all the events you’ve been invited to.

Now why would LL spend money and time on developing MSL pages?
I think that an improved MSL with some of Facebook’s best features added, would be a good tool to make SL even better.
It will make it easier for residents to build and be part of communities, stay up to date on events that are happening, stay in touch with friends and share their adventures.
They can even be active members of their inworld communities when for some reason their computer stops working (someone buy me a new one!) or they can’t be online (damn those pesky RL jobs), they can chat with friends, share pictures of events, invite friends to events, etc.
All those things that make communities work better an makes it more appealing for people to spend time in SL.

Just look at how much many SL users use Facebook and how many communities in SL have groups there.
There clearly is a need for  social media tool with the options FB has but MSL is missing.

On top of that, we could perhaps even connect MSL with the Places Pages!

So please Lindens, take another look at My Second Life and consider adding a few extra tools.
Just a few improvements could be enough for many of us to stop using Facebook, google+, twitter, etc. and start spending way too much time on the SL website.

What do you think MSL needs to become better?

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Does Facebook now officially allow pseudonyms… if you’re German?

Tags

avatar, facebook, identity, privacy, profiles

Facebook is changing the rules on pseudonyms here and there and this may be the beginning of the end of their peculiar real name policy.

To explain the whole situation in one sentence; Facebook wants us all to use our real identities, many of us do not for one reason or another.

The solution; Facebook should create Pseudonym accounts where you get the same account as everyone else except it clearly says pseudonym, so everyone knows you’re not using your real name.

But till Facebook realises this, we’re playing a cat and mouse game.
People make up accounts, someone reports them, Facebook demands identification, if it doesn’t come, they close the account.

For many people this is a very serious issue that can even be related to life threatening situations, for instance imagine someone on the run from an abusive ex or for political reasons who still wants to stay in touch with friends and family.

For us in Second Life the issue is generally a lot less drastic, but one many of us care about nevertheless.

Recently Johannes Caspar, the Hamburg commissioner for data protection and freedom of information, explained that according to German privacy laws, Facebook was not allowed to demand from its users to send their identification or change their profile name.
More about this in my previous blog you can read here (click).

A website called ‘cyberwarcone’ even wrote in this article  (click) that Facebook now allows people from Germany and specifically from Hamburg to use pseudonyms or at least use Facebook without identifying themselves, but I am not sure what their source is for this claim.
I think they just repeat what everyone else is saying; Johannes Caspar wants Facebook to follow the German laws but nothing has been officially announced yet.

As far as I can find out, Germany is making demands but Facebook has not yet responded.

While Germany and Facebook were duelling it out over these rules, someone I know but who prefers to remain anonymous, was actually confronted by Facebook over the use of their name and asked to confirm their identity.

She was about to accept that her account, like one before, would soon be deleted but then remembered my story (click) about the German privacy laws and decided instead of sending them a picture of her Identity card, to send them a picture of this note she wrote which was practically a copy of what I mentioned on my blog;

Much to her surprise Facebook accepted this identification and reactivated her profile.

So either they don’t care about what kind of picture you send in as long as you send in a file when they ask for your identification, or someone at Facebook wasn’t paying attention or somehow they asked her for identification by mistake or… if you live in Germany (or claim to do so), they will simply have to accept that you don’t have to identify yourself.

Has Facebook already accepted these laws, are they just being careful awaiting what will happen next or is it all just a big coincidence?

Fact is, she told them she was German and didn’t have to send them her ID and they seem to have accepted it.

Of course this could have been a glitch, a mistake, an error, just a fluke, or just luck.

If you have any experience in this matter, if something similar happened to you, please share your story in the comments section.

Lets hope that this could be the thing that pushes Facebook over the edge towards accepting pseudonyms.
For years their real name policy has been getting a lot of flack and it even gave the competition a step up.
Websites like Twitter and Google+ have very liberal identity rules or have listened to their users and relaxed them, this has send users in their direction, away from Facebook.

Besides, Facebook is fighting a losing battle, an estimated 170 million Facebook accounts are fake and that number is growing.
There is nothing they can do about this and their struggle is only damaging their reputation.

Germany fights Facebook thus perhaps paving the way for using pseudonyms

Tags

facebook

The Hamburg data protection authority is confronting Facebook on its ‘real name policy and telling the social media site that it can’t demand its users to provide them with a photo ID.

The German regulator said that this violates the right to privacy and in a statement (click here to read, in German) could not force users to send them copies of their official identification papers nor could it force them to change their chosen names to real names.

These real name rules have been making things very hard for people who for one reason or another prefer to use a name that is not their official one or one not recognised by Facebook.
Artists, transgender men and women, American natives, people hiding from abusive relationshiips and of course those of us with a virtual identity.

Many of us at one time or another have had our profiles deleted by Facebook because we weren’t real enough.
But Facebook is just too good for running and managing communities, staying in touch, organising events, etc.
So we keep coming back.

Right now Facebook can lock your account and force you to identify yourself and change your name, or your account will be deleted.

Technically, according to Johannes Caspar, the Hamburg commissioner for data protection and freedom of information;

The requirement to use a real name violates the rights, enshrined in German law, to use a pseudonym, while requests for digital copies of an official photo ID also contradict the passport and ID card law and the unauthorised modification of the pseudonym … blatantly violated the right to informational self-determination and constitutes a deliberate infringement of the Data Protection Act.

This is very interesting for people who like to use Facebook but not share their real life identity with everyone.
Who knows this will finally allow us to create and keep profiles for our avatars.
Even if it means pretending we’re all German citizens 🙂

If Facebook made special”pseudonym” profiles that look, act and feel the same as regular ones but are somehow clearly marked as belonging not to an identified person, everybody would be happy.

You can read more about this in the Guardian newspaper article here.

Another (bigger) Facebook petition

Tags

facebook, petition, signature

Recently I shared a link to a petition that was going to ask Facebook to allow avatars a profile.

Today I read (thank you Ayame Kintsugi for the tip) about a petition that asks Facebook to allow performers to use their stage names on their profile.

And although the cynic in me thinks that Facebook doesn’t care, I also think it can’t hurt to sign and share.

This petition is getting quite a few more signatures, at the moment of writing its close to 40.000.

That is enough to be a signal Facebook may notice.

If we truly want to keep using Facebook (love it and/or hate it, it has quiet a few handy features), we should try and reach out to Zuckerberg and his pals in as many ways as possible.

The more people let them know that they don’t want to use their real name, the more likely they are to listen to us, eventually.

You can read more about this petition and sign it by clicking here.