Virtual worlds: The next Facebook? - CNN.com is an interesting article about the predicted boom of the “metaverse”, 3D interactive worlds where users interact via avatar. While I understand the attraction of immersion and rich experience, I think many of these studies overlook a key point- to truly represent a physical world there needs to be some perceived separation of the user from information. I.E., for me to believe that I’m on an island, the palm tree needs to be certain distance from me, the cabana another, and the sponsored kiosk yet another, and the time I spend getting from Point A to Point B helps reinforce the perception. When I’m online now, I have the convenience of accessing a multitude of information and sources immediately from my homepage, facebook page, search results, etc., and that’s a key advantage that I’d be sacrificing in 3D. Also, it is much easier (and faster) to scan text than other media- I would be hugely annoyed if the Washington Post or BoingBoing were only available via video or podcast, and the same is true with over 90% of the content I read everyday.

Much more intriguing, however, is the theoretical inverse of the metaverse, the geoweb. As dorky as it sounds, the ability to bring online in to “meatspace” will be much more valuable, IMHO, than bringing the inconvenience of the physical world online for most non-social, recreational uses. Being able to access limitless information wherever I am about a certain place, and read messages from other people about where to go, historical info, and which of my friends are nearby is very compelling, and has been hyped at this point much less. It also has the potential to be much more powerful for marketers in the next 3-5 years (think retail promotions, travel info, mobile advertising) than the metaverse will be in 10. I got through that whole post without mentioning the recent Second Life bank run! Whoops…

Wired has a great article on how the open nature of Google Maps is changing how we interact with our surroundings. What really struck me as interesting is the potential of KML, which allows users to mash-up maps with any data they want and openly share it. Notably, Google is indexing all of the KML files they can find, whether or not it is specific to their own product. So what does this mean for marketers? Google Maps (and for that matter Live Local from Microsoft) will be integrated more and more into mobile, as evidenced by the iPhone’s deep integration of the service, and “third screen” marketing will become a much more effective and necessary part of the media arsenal. Will I drive an extra mile off the highway to go to a well reviewed local diner, versus a fast food chain at a rest stop? Definitely. Would I plan a vacation itinerary around other user reviews that I find via an online map, versus brochures I pick up, or a paid travel site listing? Absolutely. The talk about online local advertising is mostly focused on the online extensions of local media, not the local extensions of global portals, but I think that this will shift in the near-to-mid term. And again, what will drive the expansion, plus make local search (and by proxy, mobile search) much more effective is user tagging. Instead of a product page, it’s a businesses sticky on a map, and letting your users know how you want to be described (not that they’ll always listen) is a large part of taking advantage of this new platform. Whether I’m a car dealership that is betting that my location and advertising will carry the day, a casual dining restaurant chain that wants a new, better way to connect with my customers, or even a global CPG that wants to communicate with a customer base that is on a cell versus a laptop, the geoweb is worth exploring.

YouTube users have watched over 9,000 *years* of video (Marketing Vox)

Move around, couch potatos - ESPN to broadcast full college football games via it’s mobile phones (Washington Post)

The Stickest Brands on the web (Clickz)

iPodNN is reporting that LionsGate has confirmed their participation in offering movies for download via iTunes toward the end of this year. While Apple isn’t saying anything, I wonder if this will happen in conjunction with the oft-fabled full screen video iPod.

Hispanic Audience seeks mobile entertainment (eMarketer)

Social Media = Local Search guides (Clickz)

The Best Games of Summer (Business Week)

Scoble leaves Microsoft, and LOTS of people blog about it (Technorati) (Congrats to Robert on the new gig - I’ll be watching PodTech far more than I did Microsoft, and a round of applause for being so positive about the whole blog avalanche that followed his annoucement)

Page Views 2.0 - is there a difference between Web 2.0 and Web 1.0’s modus operandi? (ReadWriteWeb)

Blogging for Dollars: Bruce Sterling on the lack of need for Web 2.0 advertising (Wired)

Perplex City takes Alternative Reality Gaming to the Next Level (Slashdot)

eBay adds blogs, wikis and more to help its sellers (Micro Persuasion)

Skype comes to Mobiles (Gizmodo)