GooTube or YouToogle?

Why work your way to the top of the heap when you can buy your way there? Sure, Google’s got Google Video, but Chad Hurley and Steve Chen have the mega-popular YouTube. At least, they did.

Google has purchased YouTube for $1.6 Billion and while many YouTube users aren’t happy about the change, it’s certainly understandable why Google would be so interested in the wildly popular video sharing community site.

While I’m not so sure that I wouldn’t like Google better if they’d stick to perfecting the simple and uncluttered search that catapulted them into unsolicited popularity, I do see the logical sense in their largest acquisition to date.

YouTube has been gaining users by leaps and bounds and has been attracting great advertisers lately (like Nike, American Idol, CBS, NBC and Sony just to name a few). And why wouldn’t they? Short and exclusive director cuts, outtakes, “commercial clips,” and previews are something that easily fits into the format and intersts of the YouTube community, making the site quite attractive for marketers. Then there’s the added bonus of the interaction between the consumer and the marketer in social site settings like YouTube.

So, will it be GooTube or YouToogle?

Actually, neither! Google wisely plans to keep the well-branded name as well as the previous owners and employees who have made YouTube what it is today.

If you’re wondering how the YouTube community feels about the co-founders of the video sharing site selling it to Google within two years of its inception, you needn’t wonder any longer. A fifteen-year-old YouTuber posted Your Opinions are Needed: Google to Buy YouTube and the comments and response videos are there for the viewing.

Most of the responses I read and watched were not in favor of Google taking over the reins of YouTube. Many were disappointed community members discussing their worries over the threat it may pose to net neutrailty and the loss of YouTube’s unique value. There was also a general fear of having to pay for services they’ve been getting for free and the overwhelming concern that Google’s involvement will “spoil” the core community of users.

I could only find one user who was in favor of the change. And I have to admit that after watching the other videos about how Google will surely “screw YouTube up,” I found myself wondering if this guy was a Google employee. I’m not saying he is, I’m just admitting to have had the thought cross my mind.

While most of the comments were in favor of YouTube remaining independent, this lone supporter touted some of Google’s accomplishments and speculated that ads might be minized while features and content improved given Google’s wealth of resources. He went on to note that the move wasn’t at all surprising given Google’s recent forays into community based content and services. If Google didn’t give this guy a t-shirt, they really should. Re: Your opinions are needed: Google to buy YouTube?.

Of course, one YouTuber suspects that we’ll all be forced to wear Google’s plain logo t-shirts within the next 10 years. So maybe he’ll get one afterall.

To hear more YouTuber opinions, watch their videos. To see how Google actually affects YouTube, watch the site and the community numbers.

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