The Start of a New Second Life Social Network - Avatar Life -Coco Lierfatte Reporting...

Starting of a social networking site is something that takes a lot of work. You have to plan the layout, pick the name, and all the features you haven't yet come up with. The best thing about a social networking site is the ability to connect with people around the world. Social networking sites seem to be the best way to connect with people these days. So let's get inside the head of one of Second Life's newest social network creator: Pandora Drezelan, owner of Avatar Life.

[Avatar Life]

C.L.: When did you come to Second Life and what inspired you? 

P.D.: My real life niece told me about Second Life. I didn’t think I would like it at first, but after reading a bit more about it in magazines, I became more curious, so on the 14th of December in 2009, I downloaded the program, created Pandora, and I was hooked from the start.

AvLife Creator Pandora Drezelan

C.L.: What where you doing in Second Life before you created your social network? 

P.D.: I worked at a couple of clubs, then I did a basic and advanced course in modeling and graduated with Model Pages International and Baxton Model Agency. I am currently working as an in-store model at Bootgasm and I am a 912 Entertainment Model as well as writing for The SL Enquirer.


C.L.: Where did you get the idea to start up your own social network? 

P.D.: It was an accident really. I was looking for social networking sites for people in virtual worlds, and I came across a free site builder hosted by wall.fm and decided to try making my own site.


C.L.: How did you come up with the name for Avatar Life? 

P.D.: I am on other social sites, and I wanted a name that was easy to remember but also clear about what it represented.


C.L.: What was the most challenging part of creating your own social network? 

P.D.: Well in the admin section, there are aspects of the site that I can edit and change, working all that out was the hardest, coming up with questions for the members profiles, etc.

Photograph of Pandora Drezelan by Samuil Tigerpaw

C.L.: What gave you the idea for the site layout? 

P.D.: The page layout is already preset as far as themes go. I could change the default  page layout if I wanted to, but I like it the way it is. I use my logo as my profile photo. I haven’t worked out how to add a logo yet or if adding a site banner is possible.


C.L.: Where did you get the idea to give the ability to give gifts to other members? 

P.D.: Gifts are a plugin that is preset also. I didn’t like the default gifts, so I deleted those and built up a collection of icons and put them into categories, such as Holidays, Love, Friendship, that type of thing. I also added a few trophy icons which I give to members as gifts for submitting a lot of content to the site.’


C.L.: Are there any future plans for other features on the site?

P.D.: There are many different plugins already, allowing members to add photos, videos, create and join groups, give gifts, write blogs, ad links, Facebook connect, etc. There is also meebo chat and the meebo toolbar. Hopefully wall.fm will come up with more plugins in the future.


C.L.: How long did it take you to create and publish your social network? 

P.D.: Not that long, about half an hour, that’s just to do the basics.

Photograph of Pandora Drezelan by Samuil Tigerpaw

C.L.: How many members do you have on your site so far? 

P.D.: Over twenty now but I try to promote it as much as possible.


C.L.: What are your future plans for Avatar Life? 

P.D.: Just to add as many features to it as I can to make it more interesting.


C.L.: What are your hopes for your social network?

P.D.: More members of course. I want Avatar Life to be a fun site for Second Life residents. I have also made a web page for Avatar Life which is a work in progress.

Pandora's social network Avatar Life is something that everyone must try out. It's easy to sign up for and really cool! I made a account myself, and I love it personally. This is what happens when a genius idea meets a great imagination. I hope Pandora keeps up the good work on this site, and one day makes it a big hit within Second Life. I hope too see you guys on Avatar Life soon; you don't wanna be the last one to sign up when it becomes a Second Life phenomenon.

Photograph of Pandora Drezelan by Samuil Tigerpaw

Bio from Pandora:

I have always been creative, but I owe a lot of my learning experiences to a site called Fanpop, which I signed up with in June 2008. People can make their own pages on Fanpop called clubs; a club consists of an icon and a banner, among other things. I’ve made over twenty-five clubs on Fanpop. I have always liked making up profile pages and page layouts. I made my own Second Life blog, and now I am working on web designing. When I found wall.fm’s free site builder, I figured it was worth trying it out. It all started out as a hobby for me with Avatar Life, but the site is slowly growing, and I have made a number of promotional groups and pages for the site as well as an in-world group. Gifts are uploaded by me, and I put them all into categories for easy access. The toolbar is pretty basic because it is a free site. wall.fm is always adding new features and plugins so I check for updates on a regular basis. Members can give each other gifts. add photos. videos. blogs. links. join and create groups. chat. etc. People can also view My Blog, my About Me Page, the Avatar Life Web Page or contact me via the link at the bottom of the site page. Avatar Life is a small, social site, but I am very proud of it, and it's interesting to watch it grow.

The Official Avatar Life Site:
http://avatar-life.wall.fm/


Weebly Web Page:

http://av-life.weebly.com


Facebook Page:
http://www.facebook.com/MyAvLife


At Live Group for Avatar Life:
http://groups.live.com/AvLife/


Flickr Group for Avatar Life:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/avlife/


Google + Page:
https://plus.google.com/b/104142640361553714282/104142640361553714282/about