Second Life gets second CEO

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Linden Lab, the company that created the virtual world ‘Second Life,’ now has its second CEO: Mark Kingdon former head of digital marketer Organic Inc. The announcement came more than a month after Linden Lab founder Philip Rosedale said he would step down to become chairman of the board so the company could find a new leader to expand Second Life.

Kingdon will be charged with making the three-dimensional virtual world easier to use for its half a million active users while recruiting more businesses and consumers. ‘He grasps the enormous potential of all things 3-D,’ said Mitch Kapor, a board member and the founding investor of Linden Lab, which generates revenue by selling virtual real estate in Second Life.

Buoyed by publicity and novelty, Second Life grew rapidly in 2006 and 2007 but has slowed dramatically this year.

‘Given the tremendous amount of publicity and public interest, we have to get better at getting people in-world and making it a better experience for them,’ said Kingdon, who goes by the Second Life name of M Linden.

Kingdon, who has an MBA from the Wharton School of Business, has also worked at the consulting division of PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Not surprisingly, Second Life users were divided about the company’s business decision. Some of the 150 comments posted on the blog announcing Kingdon’s appointment were in line with those of Bobo Decosta, who wrote that Second Life ‘can’t be fixed! It’s ruined!’ A more supportive character calling himself Jazzman wrote: ‘Good luck. It’ll be just a little like herding cats.’

Kingdon said he conducted some of his job interviews virtually, in Second Life.

-- Alana Semuels

Semuels, a Times staff writer, covers marketing and the LA tech scene.