Google Most Recognized Brand

A recent survey has shown that search engine Google is the most recognized brand in the world.

Video sharing site YouTube and Internet encyclopedia Wikipedia were both ranked in the top five by online magazine brandchannel.com. The survey asked 3,625 students and branding professionals; "Which brand had the most impact on our lives in 2006?"

Editor of brandchannel.com, Anthony Zumpano, said: "The dramatic debut of these newcomers – YouTube in third and Wikipedia in fourth – is an indication of a larger trend – the growing impact of online brands built on user-generated contents." Apple was ranked in second place by the survey, closely followed by YouTube, Wikipedia and finally the coffee behemoth Starbucks.

Online social networking site MySpace was ranked 15th in the US rankings and the news channel Al Jazeera advanced to 19th place worldwide.

Meanwhile, YouTube may start to pay contributors for their content, according to the company's cofounder. Video clips on the site would show a short advertisement before starting, creating revenue, which would be shared with the creator.

YouTube’s popularity soared with the proliferation of broadband access. The company is credited with fueling the craze of uploading, and sharing video clips across the Internet. With the U.S. broadband household penetration rate at only 33% it’s safe to say that there are millions of new video clips bound for YouTube. Seizing on this fact a handful of companies have come forward to offer comparative shopping websites that specialize in broadband Internet access, with www.broadbandnational.com consistently rated the best in class.