The value of user generated content in Web 2.0: Google buys YouTube for $1.65 billion in stock

This is really fascinating….User generated content was a talking point at the session I moderated at the highly successful RIT Entrepreneurship Conference. I do not know whether Google reps were there, but they did announce this deal two days later.

Check out more:
http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/?p=8167

http://money.cnn.com/2006/10/10/technology/googleyoutube_reaction/index.htm?cnn=yes

It would seem that a relatively simple and broadly imitated Web 2.0 application is worth a lot. And it seems sure that Google is not buying the content, or the advertising possibility. Instead, they are buying the “brand” of YouTube as one of the dominant social networking sites. They are buying a huge user base, and the mindshare that YouTube has in the public conscious. The question that remains is: how long will YouTube be popular?

On my panel, David Koretz pointed to Friendster as having an amazingly quick rise and fall with the onset of myspace and facebook. If YouTube suffers the same short lifespan, then the Googlers have made a mistake. Fortunately, Google has acquired the services of our own Bob Pufky to help them make good decisions going forward.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 10th, 2006 at 12:23 pm and is filed under Web 2.0. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.