Gyeballs

I have always been a Google fan and now am witnessing its increasing focus towards advertising revenues. Buying YouTube is one example. Buying Writely made sense as Google did not have the word processor technology but Google already had video technology. They seem to have bought YouTube primarily for the sake of eyeballs.

When Google launched customised search, I had a look at it and was not surprised to find that to use customised search one will have to show the advertisements of Google. Now, if a site owner wants users to search own site, generally he/she would not want to send them away.

The worst policy is that of showing advertisements at the top of the search page. It may give the impression that the site at the top is rated no. 1. The fact is that the site may be far behind in ratings but gets that position because it pays money. It is true that the area where these links are displayed is marked sponsored links and is shown in light colour but a person searching may not notice these things and may be inclined to click the first link.

GTube: Google's Acquisition of YouTube

A few questions:

1. How is the acquisition in line with google's motto to organise and categorise information considering that they are already offering this kind of service through google video? Doesn't the acquisition have to do with the site traffic and hence it is pure business purchase?
2. Is the primary reason for the popularity of YouTube the sharing of contents made by people or is it sharing of contents made by professionals that are being uploaded by YouTube users?

Some observations:

1. Most of internet videos are going to be somewhat like TV in which there are strips etc. These strips will contain advertisements. This can be a mega business and google is eying that business.
2. To position YouTube as a different concept from Napster, tie ups with professional content providers need to be done. Some are already being done which is a positive sign showing progress in the right direction.
3. The video in internet would be a customised version of TV since user can choose better what he/she wants to watch. The user has an additional advantage of uploading his/her own video and interacting with others.
4. YouTube videos can be integrated in the search results of google video.
5. Google's motto seems to have become broader. Now it is not just about organising and categorising information but is also about becoming advertising king.