Though no formal announcement has been made yet, company co-founder Larry Page let the cat out of the bag while speaking on a panel during the National Telecommunications Show in San Francisco earlier this week that Google will put the call out within the next few days inviting users to upload and archive video clips.
"We're going to start taking video submissions from people," Page said, calling the move an "experiment in video blogging."
Page said Google will begin accepting video submissions in an effort to test the effectiveness of its search service. The innovative experiment, he said, will have few restrictions regarding content.
“There might be an adult section, or something like that; I don’t think that is going to be a big issue,” he said.
Late last year, Google started indexing TV shows and providing links to downloadable content. The technology uses pattern matching to find words or phrases in video clips — including programming from major news organizations — and makes broadcasts searchable the same day.
Users cannot watch videos directly from Google’s site due to issues such as broadcasting rights, but the company said it does plan to add playback functionality once such issues are resolved.
Google rivals Yahoo and MSN also recently launched video search engines, although MSN charges $19.95 per year for the service. Neither company explicitly addressed adult content submissions.
Industry analysts said Page’s statements at NTS reveal Google’s understanding and acknowledgement of the role adult websites play in the adoption of high-speed Internet access.
