Video craze.

If Internet video site YouTube wasn't on the map before its $1.65 billion purchase by Google, it is now. Experts are debating what the sale means for the future of media and whether the price tag was worth it. So the Business Journal asks:

Do you view YouTube videos regularly?

Chris Barett

Director of Interiors KAA Design Group Inc.

I probably use it once a month maybe--I look for anything my son has posted. Really it's more personal me. He makes little films and quirky videos. He's just finishing one now that he thinks is going to be a huge hit. When I heard about Google buying it, my first thought was: How incredible for these guys who created it. As far as the company goes it kind of changes it from being an under-the-radar, cool kind of thing to being a mainstream thing. Which is nice, but I liked it when it was more of an underground thing that you had to find.

Zachary Rosenfield

Head of Entertainment Division Fifteen Minutes

Yes, I like to go on there about three times a week. You know, I usually use it to indulge my guilty pleasures like old Sports Center Commercials and to relive the memories of my football team's better days. I think in the changing face of today consolidation is the name of the game--with MySpace being bought by News Corp. and YouTube being bought by Google, it's really going to bring the legalities to the forefront. As a consumer in my free time, I hope it doesn't diminish it. But I think there are some true legal issues that need to be looked at.

Bruce Friend

President of Media and Entertainment Insights OTX Research

I look at it probably once a week. I look at it from more of a business standpoint trying to understand this whole 15-megabytes-of-fame phenomenon. One of the things we're looking at is how consumers use media and pop culture to express their ideas. It used to be that people were defined by where they came from, their neighborhood and their family. More and more, with the explosion of media and technology, the ability of the consumer to express themselves through these outlets is really changing the way people express themselves. I love it purely from a research standpoint.

Brian Altounian

President Platinum Studios

I do, probably at least a dozen times a week. Based on what we do as a company, I'm interested in user-generated content and trends in that area. I'm amazed lately to find out that people are putting on highlights of sports events or things of specific interest that I can't really find in any other location. I definitely think that the trend in entertainment as a whole is moving towards digital distribution and that we are seeing things like MySpace and YouTube being bought by these large companies for the purpose of gathering a large audience and right now the audience is clamoring for content of any nature that goes beyond what can be found in our mass media outlets today.

Eric Granof

President Thunder Factory

At a minimum I go by it once a day because of our business. A large part of our business is actually monitoring this type of new media. I look for what seems to be most popular or what people are doing in terms of new ideas and concepts. I think Google buying it is definitely for the better--Google has done a very good job of remaining the people's brand and I think YouTube is the people's brand as well--it's a nice alignment. They just have to avoid the Napster issues down the line. But it looks like they're already going down a path to avoid those types of things.