It's a Google World
All-powerful Google, which snapped up YouTube earlier this month for $1.6 billion, is so ubiquitous that it even has a fan in the White House. President Bush, who referred to the World Wide Web as "the Internets" in a debate with John Kerry, says he enjoys using Google Earth, which shows satellite images of the earth in fascinating detail.
By Nick Madigan • • 4m ListenFor KCRW, I'm Nick Madigan of The Baltimore Sun with Minding the Media.
Google, which snapped up YouTube earlier this month for $1.6 billion, is so ubiquitous that it even has a fan in the White House. President Bush, who referred to the World Wide Web as "the Internets" in a debate with John Kerry, says he enjoys using Google Earth, which shows satellite images of the earth in fascinating detail.
Wall Street Journal Online story pointed out the obvious last week when it said Google's dominance is so complete that, "around the world, Internet users don't search for information, they Google it."
In that context, The Journal said, Google's purchase of YouTube makes sense. YouTube is already "the mandatory first stop when something happens in the world and you want to see what it might have looked like on TV."
But there could be trouble ahead for YouTube's new owner, the Journal said: "Already, media companies like Viacom are thumping their chests about the legal action they plan on taking against YouTube" for all the copyright-infringing material on the site.
Online Spin, wrote yesterday that she doesn't get all the fuss over YouTube: "I don't understand the mentality of going back to a site over and over again" to see a video, she wrote. "What I really don't get is why Google picked the company up. Sure, Google is an 800-pound gorilla that scoops up companies like bananas for breakfast But YouTube? Is it me, or does this seem like lawsuit after lawsuit waiting to happen?"
yesterday's New York Times, wrote that in addition to the millions of users Google draws every day, it attracts plenty of lawyers, even without YouTube.
Google has inherited a lawsuit filed last summer by Robert Tur, who owns a video from the 1992 Los Angeles riots that shows a trucker being beaten by thugs. He's suing YouTube for copyright violation.
Video Insider blog that Google's purchase of YouTube "is a major wake-up call to traditional TV advertisers that there is BIG money in online video.
"As Google has invaded both radio and print, this may very well be its entrance into television."
It's a Google world out there.
Minding the Media on KCRW.