Today I read quite a few articles on Web 2.0 and marveled at the likes of Google, YouTube, and Digg. Interestingly enough the timing was quite perfect as NBC and FOX announced a joint venture today for bringing video to the masses. At the same time you've got Viacom's billion dollar lawsuit against Youtube (which Youtube is probably going to win because of DMCA).
All this is great for consumers as it will spur plenty of good things. Among them, net neutrality, competition, better, and cheaper features but on the other hand I have to stop back and think to myself whether or not NBC will succeed. Power to them but Youtube didn't just spring up over night. They took advantage of well known Web 2.0 technologies and they understood how the online community works.
It's not just about being entertained but also about sharing the entertainment and then once you share it to talk about it. This is why any YouTube video can be posted in any forum with BBCode or with HTML code and why when you actually view the video you can rate it, tag it, and comment on it. Although NBC might make a great website with all the bells and whistles to view good programming unless there's a good community fan base it's not gonna get far. I'm sure it will be profitable but it won't reach the top 10 most visited websites on the Internet. Of which at the moment is a very exclusive club and YouTube happened to clutch it's position at number four. Good luck to NBC and Viacom but if history is a window into the future then they already lost the battle.
Artician Senior Web Developer & Co-Founder
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