3pointD.com

Those who experienced The Sims Online know how appealing it was for TSO residents to post their real-life details and photos on the Real Sims Online site. Now there’s a similar service for Second Life, in the form of a site called SLProfiles.com, where residents can match their photos of their avatars to photos of themselves in the real world. I’m not sure how long it’s been around, but it’s only got a couple of dozen members at the moment, so it can’t have launched all that long ago. Looks like May 27 was the launch date, actually, according to this forum posting from SL resident Yo Brewster, who put the site together. The site is similar to SLme, although that site is part of the larger Me.com network, and not specifically dedicated to Second Life. Still, despite its noisy interface, SLme, which has been around longer, seems to have more members.

SLProfiles combines elements of Flickr, Friendster and MySpace, including the ability to post screenshots directly from Second Life and to maintain a blog on the SLP site.

I do find it amusing that Yo is clear on what people will use the site for. As the About page puts it: “Are we THE Second Life Dating site? No doubt about it!” But, Yo continues, “We believe we’re a lot more then just that. Our wide range of searching capabilities will not only help you find people that are compatible with you in Second Life, but it’s also the perfect place to promote your virtual store within Second Life!”

I’m all in favor of social networking apps for virtual worlds — though I’m still waiting for one that will let me aggregate all my VW identities in a clean and organized fashion. And what I’d really like to see is an app that you could use within SL itself. I’m sure that’s coming. For now, welcome to another Web-based username, password, profile and friends network to fiddle with. Joy.