Google Looks Into Celebrities For YouTube

Before I went to sleep last night, I came across an article about Google that I found pretty interesting. The article was written in the New York Times and spoke about how Google is moving from a search advertising company to a media advertising company. You can find the article here; http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/21/business/media/21carr.html?_r=1&ref=technology.

The point I found most interesting was this; "There have also been reports that Google has set aside $100 million for incentives for well-known celebrities to program their own “channels” on YouTube to increase the amount of high-profile content on the platform."

I'm not sure why this hasn't been looked at more closely by people in the media business. I think this could be the key to YouTube gaining even more popularity (if that's even possible).

The reason Google has "set aside" 100 million for incentives for well-known celebrities is because Google understand what makes Twitter so successful. That's right, it's celebrities. Most of the people who sign up to Twitter sign up for two reasons; 1) to follow their favorite celebrities more closely or 2) promote their business, themselves or to do social marketing for another business.

No one signs up for Twitter to follow what their friends are saying or doing, that's what Facebook is for. No one signs up to get news either, Google, Yahoo, NYTimes and local online newspapers handle that. No my friends, the main reason Twitter ever took off was because of Ashton Kutcher and his celebrity friends.

What's my point? My point is, if Google/YouTube can somehow get celebrities posting home videos from their webcams, cell phones or HD recorders they'll strike gold. People will jump onto YouTube even more than they do now, and it's all because of the celebrities. Google will laugh all the way to the media advertising bank.