ArcelorMittal Setting the Pace

On 17 June 2008, ArcelorMittal, the world's largest steelmaker by volume, was the first listed company that held its annual shareholder meeting in Second Life (SL). This is groundbreaking and certainly a big boost for the commercial viability of SL. Despite all the doomsayers who want to convince the world that SL is only a virtual toy for almost-grown ups, ArcelorMittal's move showed that this is in fact the standard platform to interact with the Generation Y (20-27 years olds). Will it pay out? What is the ROI? I am sure, ArcelorMittal couldn't care less about such questions. This is all about getting engaged with an important, increasingly vocal constituency that you cannot reach better than with Web 2.0 technologies. The earlier companies embrace that and act upon it the higher is their chance to attract the Gen Y - as customers, shareholders or employees.

I can't predict that we still have THE Second Life five years from now. Unfortunately, it is the tragedy of many first-movers that they are often also the first-loosers. But there will be more and more offsprings of such virtual worlds - for different regions, countries, industries, interest groups etc. - and they will blend into our real life faster than we think. Why? What about that: "Part of what makes the virtual world so compelling is that it is so lifelike ... fewer things are different there than I would have thought: many of the same values apply" (Philip Rosedale, SL Founder).