# Second Life

> A virtual world reached one million registered accounts as newsrooms moved inside.

- Owner: Linden Lab
- Kind: App & software
- Sector: Technology
- Seed date: 2003-04-28
- Peak proxy date: Week of Oct 21, 2006
- Date basis: Proxy date; not a directly measured attention peak. Dates use the stated precision; chart positions are date anchors.
- Spread Score: 34 (Niche, provisional), v1.3
- Mechanics: Platform jump, Press loop, Political adoption, Controversy

## Summary

Second Life opened its public beta before its commercial launch. A BusinessWeek cover and Reuters bureau accompanied the media boom. US search share rose in Reuters’ announcement week. Registrations grew, while reporting exposed empty corporate sites.

## Timeline

- 2003-04-28 — Linden Lab (Open web) — Linden Lab opened its beta to the public; residents could download the viewer and keep their creations after launch.
- 2003-04-30 — thehossman / Slashdot (Open web) — A Slashdot reader recommended the public beta, and commenters debated its credit-card requirement.
- 2003-06-23 — San Francisco Chronicle (Press) — The Chronicle covered the commercial launch, reporting roughly 6,500 beta players and a monthly subscription.

The full timeline, metrics and sources are on the case page, or via the Pro API (https://howitspread.com/developers).

Canonical URL: https://howitspread.com/cases/second-life

Cite as: How It Spread (2026). “Second Life.” Case HIS-01574. Spread Score v1.3: 34/100. Updated 2026-10-23. https://howitspread.com/id/HIS-01574