The story was first seen at Techcrunch, the picked up by the Wall Street Journal and has since been the subject of much talk, posts and thoughts over the past few days and finally it has been confirmed that Google have purchased Youtube for $1.65 billion in an official statement.

Google explain “The acquisition combines one of the largest and fastest growing online video entertainment communities with Google’s expertise in organizing information and creating new models for advertising on the Internet. The combined companies will focus on providing a better, more comprehensive experience for users interested in uploading, watching and sharing videos, and will offer new opportunities for professional content owners to distribute their work to reach a vast new audience.”

So what do we think about this? I won’t argue that it doesn’t make sense for Google to purchase Youtube in many ways, but what about from a Youtube users perspective? I am worried that it will lose its edge.

Will it be to ‘Googley’? Will it become to strict, controlled, monitored, cencensored & just plain boring? What will happen with the copyrighted material? The kind of fun many get from Youtube is its complete freedom and diversity in broadcasts which YouTube have maintained without having to keep to a certain guideline or expectance from that of a brand like Google.