Mark Cuban is Right

There. I said it. He isn't entirely right in saying that GooTube will be enveloped in lawsuits, but he is correct in thinking that Google is moronic for snatching up YouTube.

Cuban isn't a stranger to dumb deals (Broadcast.com, anyone?) and, while I don't agree with everything he says or does, he is pretty spot-on with this one.

Before Google and YouTube made their unholy union, you may remember that YouTube signed some deals with Warner, Universal, and Sony BMG. Yeah, okay. Let's take a step back and look at this situation. Here you have YouTube, a great playground for amateur filmsters and pranksters everywhere. Free for everyone, no advertising, no restrictions and no limits. Good deal, right? Actually, yes... that is right. That is an absolutely fabulous scenario for We the People.

Unfortunately, the big boys had to come into the playground, push some people around and let their presence be known: this Web site is no longer for, about and by the People. Now, the People are once again being used as pawns in the lovely game that is internet advertising. YouTube lost the "You" right about this time. Now there is a bevy of the corporate-type that have the leeway to cut videos as they please, and generally dilute the entire experience. Where is the fun in that?

A similar tragedy is in the works for MySpace. As one of the first members of MySpace (2003, baby!), the change I see is sickening. There are sponsorships everywhere, fake profiles being used to push products and a lack of genuineness. I agree with Donna Bogatin of ZD Net that the marketing and advertising folk have the dollar signs in their eyes without regards to the user's experience. They are looking at the present... not the future, which is where your eyes should be focused when you're investing. How long can YouTube, established as a user-generated Web site, continue to thrive when the user will slowly be losing its voice?

Boom or Bust!

$1.65 billion isn't chump change. I don't care if it didn't make a dent in Google's wallet, it is ridiculous to think of an amount of money that makes you wonder if there are any countries worth less. For an unproven platform? Are you kidding me? I know the "Bubble 2.0" theories are tired, but you know what? There is substantial validity to them. Stocks are crazy, revenues are crazy, 20-something Internet video guys are getting enough money to buy space ships; and everyone is laughing all the way to the bank.

Eventually, that bank is going to have too many people trying to cash their Check 2.0's, and people are going to look back just like I did today ($5 billion for Broadcast.com?!?!) and think, "YouTube for $1.65 billion?!?!" or better yet, "Facebook for $1 billion?!?!" Sure, there will always be the lucky ones like Chad Hurley and Steve Chen, but as for the rest of us: tread lightly.