News
Diabetes UK launches Silent Assassin campaign in Second Life
23 October 2008
Diabetes UK has this week launched its Silent Assassin campaign
within the virtual 3-D world of Second Life.
 The
charity launched both its headquarters (see image on right) and the
campaign in the virtual world that boasts 15 million residents to
coincide with its biggest ever UK-wide campaign created to raise
awareness of the seriousness of diabetes.
Virtual campaign posters have been put up in and around the new
Diabetes UK Second Life headquarters, situated on Manchester Island.
Further posters have been placed around the island, including inside the
charity's virtual shop, that allow users of the virtual world or
'avatars' to teleport themselves to the Diabetes UK virtual building
where further information about the campaign and the charity can be
sourced.
Designated pages for the campaign have also gone live on the
charity's Facebook, Bebo and MySpace social networking sites and a
campaign e-newsletter has been sent to over 15,000 people.
 The
Silent Assassin campaign highlights that diabetes causes heart disease,
stroke, amputations, kidney failure and blindness but by leading a
healthier lifestyle or improving diabetes control the risk of developing
these serious complications can be minimised.
"We hope that by developing new methods of communication using social
media sites such as Second Life, Facebook and MySpace we will be able to
increase the reach of our awareness campaigning and key messages
both to people in the UK as well as internationally," explains Graeme
Manuel, Diabetes UK Web Editor.
"Awareness of the symptoms and devastating complications of diabetes
among young people is becoming increasingly important. People now get
their information from more diverse sources and so it's vital we expand
our communications channels to mirror this and better reach our target
groups."
More information
Visit Diabetes UK on Manchester Island (grid ref. 21cc) in Second
Life: http://secondlife.com
Learn how to beat the diabetes Silent Assassin at
www.diabetes.org.uk/SilentAssassin
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