There are so many provocative thoughts arising from this few seconds of video, capturing Chad Hurley (Youtube) at Davos.

Source: Youtube

• Who the hell is Chad Hurley?
• Who invited him to Davos?
• I thought Davos was for world leaders?

Oops … the world has changed.  Within 24 months of launching a video platform, some geek is sitting in Davos.  Davos for the uninitiated is the place business and political leaders gather annually in January to discuss world progress.  I recall being amazed that Bill Gates was there a few years ago, but if you haven’t figured out that the world has changed then listen to this kid.

On the other hand, I don’t buy his philosophy, and that’s the scary part of all this.  A couple of very smart guys put some flash and web code together in a way that drove extreme volumes of activity, and then Google bought them for $1.x billion. 

What struck me more than anything is that he talks about how

… he wanted to build a community of people who wanted to be there to be there and who would not just leave to the next best offer.

In plain English, he’s saying that he should offer it for free until he builds volume, then he’ll sort out the business value later. 

In short I think we have to critically watch events such as youtube.  Yes Video is a big thing, but I have to throw a spanner in that works …..  I have about 10 useable hours in my day, when I deduct work, washroom, family, colleague time.  Four videos could easily take 50% of that time.  I can flip through hundreds of blogs, and zero in on the important ones for me, thanks to Google Reader. 

Video is great but it needs a filter before it gets to me. Right now, I might watch 1 video per week.  You had better be really good, and more important, get me convinced you are good before I watch you.