Google YouTube Outside the US

October 29, 2011

The blogosphere is abuzz with Google’s shift from user posted stuff to “real” content. The consultants serving the video and motion picture industry are now officially out of the recessionary mire.

I will leave it to the news aggregators, the New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal to explain how Google is spending millions of dollars to get “real” content and create “channels.” The Pope already has a YouTube channel, so presumably he is not shooting additional videos this weekend.

But there is new venture for Google has been released, and no, it has nothing to do with Google+ social networking.

YouTube in Kenya, a localized version of the popular video sharing site, has been unveiled and will allow Kenyans to easily find local content and videos popular in Kenya. YouTube is already localized in 33 other countries and in 52 languages. The Standard’s article, “YouTube Eyes Broadcast Sector With New Product” tells us more about the site, the fourth to be localized in Africa:

‘What we are going through is a revolution,’ Information PS Dr Bitange Ndemo said, ‘There is huge hunger for content in Africa, and there is room for everyone. Through social media, every citizen of the world is being empowered,’ Ndemo said.

Google, the tech giant that revolutionized the Internet web search and changed the mobile phone landscape with its Android operating system, literally controls lives.

From news on Google News, email on Gmail, calls on Google Android phone to directions on Google Maps, watching videos on YouTube and organizing documents of Google documents, Google wants to own your every waking minute online.

One question, “Will this approach work in countries like China or Russia?”

Developments like this are ideal for creativity, news, education, and countless other possibilities. Yet the creativity seems to be constantly branded by the same corporations. That’s why local video-sharing sites, like www.naibase.com, are able to compete with the big fish; people are aware of the impact these social-media giants could potentially have on their lives and are making the decision to empower local businesses instead. And advertising? Nah, Google is focusing on “real” content.

Andrea Hayden, October 29, 2011

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Stephen E. Arnold monitors search, content processing, text mining and related topics from his high-tech nerve center in rural Kentucky. He tries to winnow the goose feathers from the giblets. He works with colleagues worldwide to make this Web log useful to those who want to go "beyond search". Contact him at sa [at] arnoldit.com. His Web site with additional information about search is arnoldit.com.