misunderestimation

A new study today says that YouTube has passed MySpace in visits.

The study, compiled by internet analysts Alexa and covered in The Guardian, shows that the video-sharing portal has taken a 3.9% share of global internet visits a day, compared with 3.35% for News Corp’s social networking site.

YouTube’s reach has increased by 155% in the past three months, while MySpace’s rose by just 9% in the same period.

If MySpace created a revolution, YouTube took expanded the revolution to a world-wide scale. YouTube has a simple concept that separates it from all prior video sharing sites; let the individual embed a video on their site. Prior video sharing sites use the model of linking and content publishers were hesitant to make those links. Embedding makes the video content feel like part of your site.

The article goes on to discuss a potential IPO and the commercial applications of YouTube, but I believe the real lesson is in the process they used to grow so big in such a short time.

Others blogging:

• YouTube’s Share of Traffic Larger than MySpace
• YouTube Overtakes MySpace
• YouTube casting for an IPO?
• YouTube Pwning MySpace in Unique Visitors

More misunderestimation