But then, I was pointed to the actual pageviews and traffic listings of the site. The results are stupefying. As Paul Boutin reports in Slate, YouTube surpassed CNN.com's viewership this past May. Hell, it already gets more visitors than eBay. Thus, shockingly enough, Google may have undervalued YouTube, and could have possibly obtained a relative bargain. (If you could ever call a $1.65 billion deal "a bargain".)

The caveat, of course, is the intellectual property minefield that is the single biggest risk to either Google or YouTube. Remember Napster? It was pretty popular, too. It is true that both companies have worked at signing agreements with copyright holders to avoid potential problems. Still, Google's lawyers will certainly be busy over the months to come.

Google's purchase is a good strategic shift for a company that has traditionally tried to build instead of buy. It's good to see Google suck it up and realize that they can't make everything themselves. I mean, have you ever tried to use Google Video?

The purchase is also a strong direction in the case of social networking sites in general. Rupert Murdoch's purchase of MySpace last year for US$580 million looks like a steal, and the site is now expanding overseas. Though, Bebo, a site popular in the UK, is starting to gain traction in America. And, hey, what's one of the next most popular social networking sites behind MySpace? Facebook? Friendster? No, it's Mixi, which has just been IPO'd with a valuation of nearly $2 billion. (Though, it's in Japanese.)

There has been incessant rumors of Yahoo!'s plans to purchase facebook.com, a more exclusive social networking site limited to college students and alumni. The university-nature of Facebook limits its user base, but could possibly create a more trusting atmosphere. Though, Facebook soon plans on opening its doors to everyone, creating a "universal utility". This may stir the pot as messily as its recent "News Feeds" debacle.

Social networking sites are still in a maturing phase. Despite their incredible monetary value, it's difficult to place a business model on these sites. It's probably safe to say that YouTube is currently not generating a financial profit. But, Google wasn't generating revenue at all just a few short years ago, and now it has found an (advertisement) revenue stream. Time will tell as to which social-networking sites will succeed.