On a YouTube related note, on Friday a friend sent me a link to one of the funniest videos I've seen in some time - the "Swagger Wagon":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ql-N3F1FhW4.

What's particularly interesting about it (apart from being hysterically funny to anyone with small children and a car full of stale Cheerios) is that the content was specifically designed by a major corporation - Toyota - presumably to augment its traditional television and newsprint advertising. Toyota is using the YouTube platform to reach a younger audience and to convey the message that it is hip and current, and maybe even to more directly target this particular demographic (i.e. reluctant minivan owners). Toyota is showing that YouTube is now a vehicle for advertising (no pun intended) in that advertisers can create irreverent, off-beat content that wouldn't necessarily work in traditional media outlets and post that content as their own, with the hopes of going viral. This is a development from the business model alleged in the Viacom action, which is that the YouTube used pirated works to increase its traffic and increase its ad revenue. It could be that the model for YouTube is no longer just as a platform for display advertising, which would support the argument that YouTube is more than just a copyright pirate's paradise, and that it actually promotes the sharing of new user-generated content.

Another thought: the very fact that large corporations are creating content specifically for YouTube as part of their overall advertising strategy could be an indication that YouTube is now, like many American car companies, "too big to fail". A court would therefore find a way to save the YouTube model, regardless of the legal doctrines at play.

Either way - it is a really funny video!

Jessie