Change Doesn't Happen Overnight

See Also: 'Down the Rabbit Hole' Episode Guide

The CSI: New York audience isn't swarming Second Life.

After featuring Second Life on New York, New York was featured in Second Life. The CSI: NY episode "Down the Rabbit Hole" drew in 13.9 million viewers, but only a small portion went online to try out Second Life. Normal registration on the site is 8,000 per day, and after the New York tie-in registration was up 40,000. This number does not include the people who signed up via CBS.com, but it is a small number compared to the overall amount of viewers for the show. However, Sibley Verbeck, founder of Electric Sheep (the company that worked with CSI: NY to create the episode), said that the numbers were good and that they "weren't expecting a lot more than that."

Getting involved with Second Life isn't just a matter of clicking onto a website. Fans have to sign up, download and install software and learn how to use the site. All of that takes time and not every fan will be interested. In the end, this crossover with New York was a chance to try out something new. "The biggest impact will be what we learn from it, the experimentation, and what can be successful," Verbeck said. "I think there will be a lot of entertainment properties that bridge the virtual world and television. The industry has to figure out how to make that successful."

Glenn Fisher, director of business programs for Linden Lab, said that the real impact of the online tie-in will be to see how people interact between the television and the internet in the long run. It's not just about getting tv viewers to check out Second Life, it's also about getting more people to turn on their televisions. "I talked to a number of people in Second Life who said they watched this show, even though normally they don't have time to watch television because they're too busy in Second Life," he said.

Ultimately, it's not going to be about one episode. The review for "Down the Rabbit Hole" on Information Week's Digital Life Weblog summed it up by saying that "it takes time to build a community. It doesn't happen overnight, with a big launch." The review went on to say that the most successful brands and companies in the online world are not real-world names that make the transition to the internet. Instead, it's companies that start out on the internet which gain more momentum, such as Google, Amazon and eBay. However, according to the review, "[i]f CSI: NY sticks with Second Life for the long term, it can succeed despite precedents."

The original review can be found on the Digital Life Weblog.

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