Sitting somewhere between Second Life and the real world (which we still visit on occasion, as we move between our work computers and our home laptops) is Google’s new idea for advertising on Street View.
According to a new patent filed by Google we could soon see the images of billboards, posters and signs in Street View updated with fresh advertising content.
Pretty cool if you are running a cinema or a theatre, as Google are apparently talking about targeting the individual poster spots outside these sorts of venues, so they can be updated with posters for the latest film or play.
Slightly more sinister are the rumours that Google will actually sell this advertising space to bidders using its established auctioning models, so companies could bid to have their ads superimposed on the Street View images of Piccadilly Circus or Times Square, for example.
Second Life tried selling advertising space ‘in-world’. It never really took off. Google might have found a more profitable take on the concept.