YouTube? Bullish.
I'm generally not one to point to another post and say "yeah, what he said" -- it's just another echo in the chamber. But I can't help myself with the latest YouTube debate. I am in complete agreement with Fred in his post Stop The YouTube Hating!.
Yes, YouTube is a company that's founded on a very clever viral Flash widget. Yes, I'm sure someone could now replicate YouTube's web site and technology. But that's not the point. As Fred says:
It's the experience. The tools. The player. The comments. The community. That is the essence of YouTube. These guys invented the embeddable flash player. The single best move in the online video game to date. I love them and the service they've built and the community that exists there.
And that's it right there. Do you know how hard it is to get all of that right? Each piece might be trivial or straighforward, but getting the gestalt of the whole experience to work is something else entirely. And that's what YouTube has done. And that's why it's the first place I look for any video content, and why Dane Cook referenced YouTube in his SNL monologue the other night, and why YouTube is awash with "A:F6" tributes this morning.
Remember when, before imdb, you'd remember something about an old movie or some actor and you'd be left with an unanswered question? That's what YouTube is to me -- the place to go to "answer questions", and then some.. My hat's off to what YouTube has created, and I hope they get ludicrously rewarded for creating one of the few services that changes how life with the net is lived.