Google: Businesses can benefit from video sharing

Video sharing and social networking aren't just for the kids — Google reckons there is a place for both in the business world.

Dave Girouard, vice president and general manager of enterprise at Google, told silicon.com: "Our intention is to bring as much of Google's technology to the enterprise suite as possible, and using video to share information inside a business is an obvious need."

Girouard said video sharing is "a zero-billion-dollar industry". In other words, video is something everyone thinks and talks about, but so far no-one has worked out how to use it for information-sharing on a large scale within the business world.

Google acquired YouTube for $1.65bn (£805m) last year, and recently rolled out an advertising format on the video-sharing site, which may be a way to cash in on the hefty investment.

However, Girouard added: "I doubt anything we would do with YouTube in the enterprise space would have anything to do with the YouTube website."

And video sharing isn't the only Web 2.0 technology Google sees as having potential in the business space, with social networking also getting a mention.

Girouard added: "I think social networking will be incredibly valuable in the business space and maybe more impactful than it is in the consumer space, eventually."