Neal Mohan – Major businesses frequently shuffle their leadership, so it was unexpected when YouTube’s former CEO announced she would exit.
For over ten years, Susan Wojcicki has been in charge of the most well-known video sharing website.
Neal Mohan, who will take her position, is more than capable of stepping up.
Given that Mohan has long been optimistic about the Web3 market, his hiring is also welcome news for Web3 fans.
The news
Susan Wojcicki made her departure known in a long blog post on YouTube.
She lauded the company’s executive team there and singled out Neal Mohan for his contribution to the introduction of services like YouTube TV and YouTube Music.
She also praised Mohan’s comprehension of YouTube as a commercial entity and well-liked social media platform.
“He has a wonderful sense of our product, our business, our creator and user communities, and our employees,” wrote Wojcicki.
The replacement
Neal Mohan will have large shoes to fill given the fame of YouTube.
Yet, he is the ideal choice due to Susan Wojcicki’s praise and his seven-year stint as YouTube’s Chief Product Officer.
Neal Mohan has maintained an open mind during his time at YouTube, maintaining current on the development of the internet and its different platforms.
He wrote in a blog post from last year that YouTube was considering ways to incorporate Web3 technologies into the platform.
He recommended using the metaverse of NFTs to use the platform more immersively.
Read also: Chainspace creates NFT portals connecting Bitcoin and Ethereum
“We believe new technologies like blockchain and NFTs can allow creators to build deeper relationships with their fans,” wrote Mohan.
“There’s a lot to consider in making sure we approach these new technologies responsibly, but we think there’s incredible potential as well.”
Neal Mohan also discussed the advantages of NFTs and how they enable fans to acquire works of art, pictures, movies, and experiences made by their favorite artists.
Moreover, he thinks NFTs would open up new channels of communication and collaboration between creators and viewers.
YouTube and the metaverse
Neal Mohan claims that the metaverse is still in its infancy and that the technology is still under development.
The new CEO of YouTube, however, stated that the company will seek to increase gaming interactions and “make them feel more alive.”
While blockchain technology isn’t specifically included into the metaverse, other initiatives like The Sandbox and Decentraland use it to create ownership over different assets, including virtual land.
The phrase “metaverse” was first used by author Neal Stephenson in his science fiction book Snow Crash from 1992.
Google’s involvement
Google has also begun to rely more on Web3 services during the past 12 months.
Google declared the release of the Blockchain Node Engine, a cloud-based tool for Ethereum applications and developers, in October 2022.
Individual nodes that contribute to a blockchain’s network are hosted by and [automatically] managed by Blockchain Node Engine.
As a consequence, it offers everything that users of Google Cloud computing in the market for digital assets demand, such as:
- Reliability
- Performance
- Security
Google announced the extension of the Blockchain Node Engine into Solana Blockchain in December.
Around the first quarter of 2023, the functionality will go live.
Also, in September of last year, Google gave its approval for Ethereum to switch to a less power-intensive method of verification.
Transitions are a much-anticipated process sometimes referred to as the merging.
A countdown doodle from Google’s search engine last year indicated how long the process of changing Ethereum’s power usage would take.
The platform & Web3
Leaders on YouTube have embraced the new technology since Web3’s growth.
Ryan Wyatt, in addition to Neal Mahon, is a key supporter.
After seven years, the former Global Head of Gaming for YouTube resigned to become CEO of Polygon Studios in February 2022.
He then rose to the position of president at the newly renamed Polygon Labs.
Wyatt stated that he was able to draw comparisons between YouTube and Polygon.
“There’s a lot of similarities between YouTube and Polygon in the sense [that] it’s a platform, and you’re helping people onboard onto it,” explained Wyatt.
“It’s creators in all types, uploading gaming videos, all the way to now [where it’s] games and projects being built.”
Image source: Coingape
