Thank You

I was trying to think what I should title this blog entry...'GooTube', 'YouTube is here to stay', 'Who's a moron now Mark Cuban' all came to mind, but I settled on the only thing I really can say - thank you. YouTube would not exist and be where it is today without the YouTube community. We owe everything to you guys and we will never, ever forget that.

I've been watching your videos, reading your comments and emails and I know there is a lot of concern and speculation of what may happen to YouTube because of the acquisition. I am here to say, if anything changes it will only be for the better. Being a start up, we have struggled a lot over the past year. We've had site performance problems and nasty bugs. We haven't always been able to respond to your emails or help you with your problems. There have been things we know we need to improve (like spamming and flagging) but just haven't had the time or resources to get it done as quickly as we would like. While there are still a lot of things to be hashed out over the coming months, many of the obstacles that used to stand in the way of us delivering you the best possible product have now been removed. And for all of you who have complained about our sucky search, well you can bet that will change. :)

So no, you won't have to start paying for videos and YouTube won't be replaced with Google video. We aren't going anywhere. YouTube and all the wonder that you have brought to it is here to stay.

From day one, every single thing we have done has been about building the site, building features for our users, continually making the product better. Our goal has always been users first, everything else second - and that will not change.

I honestly never expected to have this much passion for YouTube - but it is each and every one of you who has brought that out in me. You have awed me with your creativity, humbled me with willingness to share your lives, and yes, at times shocked me with your...well...nevermind. You have changed my life and opened my eyes in so many, many ways.

So once again, thank you, from all of us at YouTube.


Maryrose