AdSense and alike in 3D
Interesting article over at programmableweb about Google now enabling websites publishing custom maps to make money through ads.
We think the traditional semantics of pushing ads to a webpage will go through a radical transformation as we move first to maps and then to parallel worlds. Locality will enter the picture while determining if an ad should be pushed to the medium, and as there was a gold rush for the most desired ‘keywords’ with AdSense and alike, now it seems there will be a literal land rush, with advertisers paying top money for the most visited ‘locations’ inside parallel worlds.
This will be very different from in-game advertising where location does not carry the same weight as in a parallel world. We do not see anyone building the infrastructure for this new 3D AdSense yet, other than Google it seems. Obviously, Google Earth forums did not comment if Google was planning to add a KML version of their GoogleMaps:GAdsManager.
Recent coverage
http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2007/08/murat-aktihanog.html
http://mashable.com/2007/08/21/unype-facebook-application/
http://metaversed.com/18-aug-2007/google-earth-skype-multiuser-unype
http://www.raphkoster.com/2007/08/18/unype/
http://www.secretlair.com/index.php?/clickableculture/entry/multi_user_google_earth_now/
http://futurismic.com/2007/08/20/multi-user-google-earth-with-avatars-this-is-unype/
http://internet-marketing.aggregator.ws/would-you-like-the-red-pill-or-the-blue-pill/
http://vroot.org/node/4431/
Social networking comes to Google Earth
Unype Facebook application lets Facebook users roam around inside Google Earth and see/interact with each other.
It’s free, cross-platform (MS Windows, MacOSX, Linux) and requires no downloads.
A Facebook user adds the application, clicks on a button and enters Google Earth. Inside Google Earth he/she can see other Facebook users as avatars moving around.
By optionally specifying your Skype id when entering GE, you can voice-chat with other Facebook users inside Google Earth.
We believe integration of social networks and virtual/parallel worlds will enable us to move from clicking on links/looking at text pages and clicking on more links, to ‘actually’ moving around in a 3D space and meeting other users in a much more natural way, just like we do in the ‘real’ world.
Here is a recent Businessweek article “Just Ahead: The Web As A Virtual World” related to this.
We are looking forward to exploring and building upon this.
