Business

Why bother with Go Green Tube?

By Rebecca ⋅ July 23, 2008 ⋅  Email This Post ⋅ Post a comment

I came across a YouTube knockoff with a green premise called Go Green Tube earlier today. The premise is great. Green videos to help you live and be greener. Their own tagline is “Think Green, Watch Green, Be Green”. Okay, I’m with you so far.

Then I started poking around the site. I couldn’t help but notice the ‘Community carbon footprint’ stuff at the bottom of pages and links to test my own carbon footprint and buy credits… Another one of those sites. I get it.

So I decided to see if they’re practicing what they preach and clicked ‘About Us’ but there was nothing in there about how green they actually are, or about how any income from the slew of “Advertise on Go Green Tube” helps the planet (like 1% for the Planet, perhaps), or how they are reducing their own footprint with their website by hosting green using wind power, etc, etc. Nothing. They host at Voxel, which apparently offers green hosting, though no information was available on their website about this and I have not been able to learn more about their green hosting initiatives.

One could argue that the spreading of knowledge is more beneficial than all the negatives and it’s just good that it is there and exists - but given the reach and viewers available on YouTube, why not use YouTube and spread further, wider, more? (And yes, I know, I myself do not host on a green server, I host on a friends pre-existing server for free. However, I also make no money from this endeavor. Should it make money rest assured that 1% and other charities will benefit and the site will relocate to a green server if and when it can cover those costs itself).

From what I can tell this is nothing more than a YouTube knockoff trying to profit from individuals who are trying to better the planet. These videos would do more good on YouTube itself than here where the only benefit appears to be the lining of the owner’s pockets.

At least with YouTube, in addition to the benefit of more potential viewers and reach, it is backed by Google, who is proactive and actively commits towards bettering the environment. Go Green Tube just seems to be trying to ride the green wave without any commitment towards bettering the environment. Pass.

Tags: Business, Internet