Elanso

So I’ve been toying around with Google Lively, which is by far the friendliest virtual world sim I’ve come across. Lively is Google’s thesis on reinventing social networks.

This is an interesting paradigm - on one end we have the traditional virtual world simulators like Second Life and There that has built community from ground up and expands their reach through external tools such as eCommerce models and social networking apps available outside these worlds. On another end we have Google’s tools ready for use and all you need to do is enter this “virtual world in a browser” to make things happen.

Google Lively is a proof of concept for Social Networking 2.0 - running a virtual world without having to install an application onto your desktop. Lively is eye candy. It’s also a social network and a virtual world and a browser game all rolled into one. Basically, when you go “blog hopping,” you really go hopping with your avatar to each and every room created by users. You can embed your room’s code onto your blog and have visitors drop by almost literally. The room creation tool is very easy to use and you can get something up and running in about 15 minutes just by choosing your room template, adding music, and placing skins. You can also define an avatar for your character who can hop from room to room and socialize.

This is my room island paradise for instance, created for my personal blog.

It is cliche to say that the possibilities are endless for Google Lively. It does make sense to present a new paradigm in social networking and with Google’s tools - monetization, payment gateway, search, and online office suite, it does make sense to maximize these tools into a “fun” place.

As of today, the beta release is still not Mac compatible and only works on Windows XP and Vista via Internet Explorer and Firefox.

Jayvee guests posts for Uncover the Internet. His main blog is at Cellphone9, your source of mobile phone news and reviews.

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