On Decentralizing YouTube: iTube and gTube

As everyone in YouTube's community is pointing out lately, the site just isn't what it used to be, particularly community-wise. Banning some prolific video creators from the site, highly questionable censorship practices, selective top lists (which basically means gaming their own system) and on a personal note disastrous picks of featured videos has been accompanying the site from the start but has only recently become a center of attention, mostly because technical issues have been resolved, turning all eyeballs to the second of most annoying problems on the list and furthermore robbing YouTube of an excuse, an alibi for its undesired practices.

As always, a lot of opinions, ideas and suggestions on how to bridge this corporate vs. commnity gap (and where - if anywhere - it's leading) have been circling around, though the latter has been in short supply this time... That's why I decided to throw in one of my own related suggestions and make the pile just a bit bigger.


I think what we really need is the following: YouTube should level the playing field by introducing gTube and iTube (which is already a registered trademark). What these two (un)registered trademarks stand for is this: I envision gTube (also known as GroupTube) as a hierarchically subordinated YT where a group of associates can have their own Internet video portal with all the features and editorial powers at their disposal, including their own subdomain, for example z-group.youtube.com - a customizable self-managing system within YouTube, suitable for either corporations or groups of individuals with enough time on their hands.
If gTube is meant for collectives of individuals, iTube would essentially be meant for personal use: your usual YT channel turned into a limited GroupTube, accommodated for personal use. This doesn't mean only getting your own subdomain like z-lot.youtube.com but also extending the control over current features, such as Favorites, and incorporating other Google services in the page (think Blogger).

The majority of users will most likely stick to their current profiles while a portion of video creators might be interested in iTube's advantages. The gTube is meant for a small number of users (groups), mostly established companies and aspiring collectives of individuals who want to take advantage of YouTube's provided tools and Google's video repository... or would simply like to have their own web TV station for free.

So what exactly would this dispersed, decentralized system bring to its creator? It would keep existing big fishes in YT's pond, attract new ones due to an already existent set of tools and of course a fair share of advertising revenue from ads and commercials on the new sites.


Overall, I think that I think the idea itself is worth at least a thoughtful consideration, if not complete devotion to its aims... the least we could get from it are those lovely subdomains...