Word of the Week: The Google Empire (ok that’s 3 words)

Allen Stern - February 24th, 2007

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Google For this second installment of the "Word of the Week", I have selected the Google Empire. Why? A big launch followed by some YouTube issues on the media front.

A quick note… Google began reporting on RSS subs numbers this week. What I would like to see is active vs. subscribed.

The launch

Google launched the "premier" version of their Google Apps service this past week. There was much talk in the blogosphere about the launch. My belief is still that the thing that will hinder any possible explosive growth is the fact that you are sharing EVERY secret with Google. When I interviewed Zoho for example, Raju explained how they protect your data so that no one at Zoho will be able to look at it. I would like to see the same type of statement come out from Google to make me more reassured.

The one thing I don't see is many blogs being critical on any aspect of the launch. Marshall has a short discussion about security. Even the InformationWeek article which supposedly broke the story is very fluff on the release. Do I think they will do very well? Yes. Do I think it is a good package? Yes. Do I think everyone of the Fortune 500 will run to it? No. Do I think some CIOs will make a move to cut costs immediately? Yep.

YouTube

I think the big question now is whether YouTube will be the leader at the end of 2007. Google paid a ton for the company and lately it appears there is more bashing than loving. We had the Viacom clip pull about 10 days ago, now the filtering appears to be in place and some are starting to wonder if Google's YouTube will continue to be as strong going forward. My belief is that commercial clips should have gone to Google Video and YouTube should have remained for the people, by the people.

Here is some discussion around the media issues with YouTube over the past week: