Second Life and engaging communities

Communities exist in many forms, from chatter on a forum or bulletin board through to multi-player 3D virtual worlds. But what engagement models work and how can media companies nurture communities without alienating them as devices of corporate interests?

In our open discussion on Thursday at 12.30pm at the WeMedia conference in Miami we hope to engage the community sitting in the audience in a discussion of the different ways of working with communities – without alienating them!

Who are we? I’m Nic Fulton, Chief Scientist for Reuters Media, and a self-styled black sheep who walks that thin line between radical innovation and being fired. I’ll be joined by Mark Jones, Reuters Community Editor whose task it is to make Reuters news a interactive community experience. And finally we’ll have Adam Pasick on the phone, who in Second Life is Reuters bureau chief “Adam Reuters”. Hopefully Adam will also be with us virtually if all network connectivity behaves.

What do we want from you? Questions, anecdotes, experiences and more. Who are the 1% who comment on blogs? Who are the residents of Second Life? What should the byline of a story about Second Life be?

Come along and participate – and of course feel free to post issues you’d like to discuss via the comments below.