What does Youtube want to be when it grows up?  I’m not sure, but looking at everything they’re doing, you can bet they’re not necessarily focusing on a single niche market, and when you’re big like that, you can afford not to!

Currently, Youtube provides a place for people to post their own videos, up to 15 minutes in length (they just upped it from 10 to 15 minutes yesterday), and up to 2 GB in file size.

But wait… there’s more!  Youtube also has some of the fastest servers to serve up this video content, they also provide the highest resolution available.  Just over a year ago their maximum allowed resolution was 720p.  About 6 months ago they upgraded to 1920×1080… and last month, Youtube shocked every ISP in the United States when they rolled out 4K.  Youtube also does livestreaming for certain events, but they may expand that service in the future.  They also have a partner program, allowing brands to customize their channel pages beyond the normal user customization features (look up almost any Fortune 500 consumer products brand, the White House, etc. and you’ll see what I’m talking about).  They have the most robust video advertising program online.  Youtube is going places… but what does the future hold?

Here’s my theory:  Youtube wants to be the platform where everything video-related happens.  They want news organizations publishing content here.  They want music videos, live sporting events, live concerts, television shows, and yes, even movies.  They want educational content.  They want to be TV online… forget Netflix, forget DVR, forget theaters: enter Youtube.  Just look at Google TV and Youtube Leanback.  TV is their goal–and not just one screen, they want to own every screen: mobile, PC, and TV– Youtube wants to own the concept of TV.  Why?  Um… it’s only the largest source of advertising revenue in the world, period.

What other reason would Google want direct fiber optics to the home?  Yeah yeah- they have their other services… but being able to deliver TV to the entire world with the overhead of servers and the people to run them is a big business.  Granted, they’ve only started to figure out the money side of things over the past year or so, but with Google behind them (Google earning most of it’s revenue through advertising), they can take that model beyond where any other internet video property can go.

Through Youtube, Google is building out another cash cow to keep them going on their mission.  Yes, Google owns search advertising, but in the world of advertising, search is a small part.  Despite what the bloggers around the world say, radio and television ad spending still dwarfs Google’s share of the search market.  Google understands this, but getting into the broadcast market is very cost-prohibitive.  They know this, but they also know that the internet will eclipse the airwaves eventually, and they want to be there when it does (and they’re doing everything they can to get it there faster, promoting faster internet, internet-capable televisions, etc.).

It will be interesting to see where things go, but that’s my prediction (I’m on a run with these predictions… but I know Google pretty well… I’m a fanboy, remember?).

References:

Just Google any of the above mentioned facts and you’ll find the information you need.

It’s been about a month since the rumors started pouring out about Google Me, the rumored response to Facebook from Google.  I have a slightly different take on this, which may be part of Google’s long-term strategy.

The overriding feature I imagine coming from a move like this is not really a Facebook competitor.  I imagine something that attempts to integrate Google’s many fragmented services, tied together with a social component (not a new product built completely from scratch).

The Big Three in social media, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, all serve specific niche parts of the web.  I use all three, and I use all of them in different ways.  So many people who use these three services also use many of Google’s services, like Reader, Picasa, Places/Latitude, Wave, Apps, etc.  If Google could build a network to integrate these features (integrating Youtube for example would be huge)… imagine the possibilities.

With Google Profile, they’ll integrate a central connection point.  With Latitude, Maps, Places, and Tags they have location-based social media.  With Youtube they have the most robust video platform on the internet.  With Picasa Web albums they have a fully-featured photo platform.  With Google Search they’ve got the largest search market in the bag.  With Google Buzz, Talk, etc. they have one of the most capable IM clients and a location-based service updater… integrate all of that with Gmail and you’ve got a slam dunk!  With Google Ads, they’ve got a revenue model and could probably be profitable within the first few months.  With Android and Chrome, they can build the entire thing into the next release of their OSes.

What do I worry about with Google putting this together?  By far, I’d have to say the user experience.  If they get the user experience right, they’ve got this in the bag because they’ve got the features and user base to pull it off.  I’m not so sure about their ability regarding UX, however… many of their projects have completely flopped in recent months.  We only have to think about Wave, Orkut, and Buzz to remember that– yet they have had many very successful projects: Google Voice, Reader, Google Apps, Gmail, just to name a few.

Will they pull it off?  I think they can if they WAIT until they’ve got a nearly finished project.  Maybe they’ll launch at the next Google I/O.  It’s several months away, but if they want to get a piece of the social pie, they need to be ready at launch.  I, like a lot of people, tried Wave and Buzz, only to be disappointed and leave (for several months)… if they want to make this work, they can’t launch a beta and take a year to get something to mainstream.  They need to hit the ground running and have it be such a good experience that they gain millions of active users with a few days– then success is virtually assured.

Do I think they’re working on this?  Absolutely.  I don’t think it will launch soon– and if it does, my bet is that it isn’t ready yet.  It might not look like what I’ve described, but my bet is they simply want to build something that integrates these things across the web (notice how they started integrating user accounts on all their properties over the past year or two).  Everything is pointing to Google launching a single, integrated user experience– anything less would just be another feeble attempt at a niche market… to get a piece of the pie (which they will lose over time unless they do something), they need to act in a big way.

Anyway– so much for my rambling.  Hope that makes sense– I really think this is the way they should move if they aren’t (Google, if you read this, I wouldn’t mind a little credit for the idea if you didn’t have it already, though I somehow doubt that you hadn’t thought of it because it certainly appears that you’re moving that direction already).

References (outside my own experience…)

TechCrunch

Just for fun

In Utah, July 24th is a celebration of the anniversary of the arrival of Mormon Pioneers in the Salt Lake Valley.  Today during the Days of ’47 Parade, we, as a state, celebrated those pioneers, and the pioneers who have led us to where we are today and will continue to lead us into the future.  The theme of the parade was “Pioneer Spirit – Then and Now.”

I’d like to thank all those who have sacrificed their time, resources, energy, and their lives on behalf of this country and this beautiful state of Utah.  It is on the shoulders of these people that we can build our nation, our families, our society, and our lives.

There have been many leaders who went forward despite the odds and the opposition.  George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King Jr., and many others in the civic arena come to mind.

Leaders in science and medicine have pushed forward, even when people thought they’d gone off the deep end.  Florence Nightingale, Thomas Edison, Ben Franklin, and Henry Ford come to mind.

There are many thousands, probably millions, of men and women who pushed forward quietly, without fanfare or publicity, who made an impact on the lives of millions, possibly billions of people for the better.  I will recommit myself today to the idea that I my decisions can and do effect not only myself, but the lives of the thousands, and maybe even millions who will follow me.  If everyone took a moment to think about their true impact, they might strive a little harder each day to reach their potential.

Pass this message on to others and let’s make a difference.  The best way to pass this on is to lead by example.  I won’t quote scripture often, but this one rings true to me (apply your own beliefs in this case):

“Choose you this day whom ye will serve… …but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”  – Joshua 24:15 (KJV)

http://www.daysof47.com/

If you have registered your business on Google Maps before (business listings are now called Google Places), then you may have received an email today about a new initiative Google is launching, called Google Tags.

If you sign up by tomorrow, you can get one month of free promotions using Google Tags on your Google Places account.

From the looks of it, Google Tags adds some functionality to your Google Places profile and allows you to run promotions which appear as an additional graphic on Google Maps in search.  I have yet to use it personally.

These tags do NOT have any effect on your search rankings, so don’t think that (video still raises your rankings on Maps, however, more on that later).

Google Tags can be used for specific promotions, but they can also be used to simply promote certain features or aspects of a business which may stand out to someone who is searching.

As always with anything relating to search engine marketing, always do keyword research (and for this especially, local keyword research) to make sure you’re not throwing money away.

But for only $25 per month (flat fee!), this could be a great marketing tool if the market is there.  Remember, if you need any help setting up your campaign or doing research, Utah’s coolest marketing company is always available… (shameless plug for my company…).

Google launched Google Tags officially back in May 2010, but are now starting to promote it more heavily.  The bulk of Google’s revenue is generated by their advertising products, and they’ve been trying for the past ten years to find and build something else to generate revenue, because advertising revenue alone won’t be enough to sustain the tech giant.  This is still advertising, but it’s innovative and built on the back of another of their free products (Google Maps/Places).  That’s smart business.

A lot of technology companies and organizations are looking to Utah to build their new data centers.  Twitter is just the latest company to announce it’s intention to launch a data center in Utah.  Other companies who have already begun construction on new data centers in Utah include Oracle, eBay, and even the National Security Administration.  These data center announcements over the past year total almost $2 billion in construction expenditures and will create hundreds of new jobs along the Wasatch Front.

Could Utah become one of the major internet hubs in the U.S.?  Currently, northern California, Texas, and Virginia are the largest hubs, but could Utah start taking some of the pie?

Utah is definitely poised to do just that.  With relatively inexpensive electricity, and huge potential to develop more, a highly educated workforce and lower cost of living than the other areas, Utah stacks up pretty well.  This is not to mention incentives provided by the Office of Economic Development, which may or may not be a factor in these data center announcements.

Although Utah has a fairly good internet backbone already in place, these and anticipated future announcements may also prompt increased spending in further developing the internet backbone in Utah to facilitate the huge amounts of data which will flow in and out of the state.  This is good news for Utahns in theory, because when more is spent on that infrastructure it should help increase consumer internet speeds (the technical aspects of that could be another blog post).

On a side note: we really need to get everyone on board for the Utopia project.  I know there has been some controversy with the fiberoptic network in the past, but that was more due to mismanagement than feasability.  Phone lines and cable lines have limits on what they can do, and only having two major providers in areas without Utopia (and in some areas, only 1 provider available), certainly makes for unhappy consumers.  Utah needs to invest now in infrastructure to keep pace with the growing technology-based industry here in Utah.  Startups rely on home and office-based internet services, and without adequate speeds, Utah’s currently growing technology industry won’t be able to compete.

Many Utahns have also pitched to Google, who will choose one or more communities by the end of this year to build an open fiber network, that it would be in their best interest to invest in the Utopia Project. See the videos embedded below for some example pitches.

References:

TechCrunch

Salt Lake Tribune