YouTube co-founder Chad Hurley is using the site’s April Fools’ joke to play into his own business strategy. He has juxtaposed the video sharing site’s joke shutdown against the debut of his new video sharing site, MixBit, which he previously hinted at during an SXSW interview.
The MixBit homepage announces that “YouTube is shutting down. Instead of sitting around, we thought you’d want a new site to not only watch cat videos, but create them…together!” There’s still little information about MixBit’s exact features, but those who join the mailing list should receive updates post-haste, as Hurley originally claimed the site would be launched in April.
According to Hurley’s SXSW interview, MixBit will have a heavy collaborative element that will allow it to work beside YouTube rather than attempting to overtake it. Of course, once YouTube shuts down for the next ten years, the coast is clear for Hurley to retake control of the industry.
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As an interesting side note, domain name tracker The Domains noted how, in addition to Hurley purchasing the MixBit.com URL for $2,088, a different buyer purchased MixedBits.com the same week, hoping to make a fortune off of mistyped queries. If you believe in Hurley’s vision and want to make some easy money, now’s your chance to snap up MixBits.com while it’s still ripe for the taking.
