YouTube debuts redesign emphasizing Google+, Facebook

The Web's video mainstay puts social networking, original programming front and center

Web video mainstay YouTube unveiled a brand new look late Thursday, a redesign which gives user customization and the site's new topical "channels" more emphasis. The YouTube update capitalizes especially on over 100 channels that debuted in November 2011, airing original programming from celebrities like Ashton Kutcher, Madonna, and Shaquille O'Neal.

The social networks brought to the fore in the YouTube redesign are Google+, understandably as YouTube is owned by Google, and Facebook, also understandably as Facebook is everywhere. For example, a comScore study from 2010 corroberated this fact, showing that users spend more time on Facebook than Google.

The direct center of the YouTube's main page shows a feed of videos "+1-ed" by Google+ acquaintances, with an option to log in with the user's Facebook account. The old "Recommended Videos" feed, which used to take up the lion's share of the site's main page, is now relegated to the right margin.

Google has also added a YouTube sharing icon to every Google+ page, further facilitating what Google clearly hopes will be a transparent synergy between the two sites.

Where and how users will access their online entertainment via their living room television sets is heating up as one of the next big fronts in the ongoing war for Web supremacy. Streaming video sites like Netflix and Hulu are increasingly building up their television catalogs and pushing into original programming.

Web video applications have been implemented on video gaming consoles like the Wii, and more recently, the Xbox. internet-ready set-top box manufacturers, like Boxee, are gearing their products to compete with conventional cable services.

As of yet, YouTube has not thrown their hat into the licensed programming game in a real way, like Netflix and Hulu. Last year, YouTube reportedly opened negotiations to buy Miramax's 700-film catalog for an approximated $100 million, which is about the same as what Netflix paid for the same catalog. But those negotiations ended up going nowhere.

But judging by their redesign, YouTube clearly hoping to make their site more amenable to those consuming Internet video via their living room TV sets, as well as increase the average amount of time spent on the site, via their new ad-supported original programming channels. As of now, the average time spent on YouTube per day for each user stands at about 15 minutes.