“Google doesn’t get social media.” This sentiment’s been bandied about since the dawn of social in the mid-aughts. Google executive chairman of the board Eric Schmidt even admitted recently that his biggest regret as CEO was “not anticipating the rise of social…”

Social media can be very loosely defined as a construct and in the ever-changing operating system of the web and its users, Google is still poised to thrive even as it continues to slowly, but surely ramp up its own platform, Google+. But things begin to get real when some key moves are made to create a more social environment within YouTube. While SoundCloud took cues to become the YouTube equivalent for audio, YouTube can learn from SoundCloud’s superior integration of social subscription discovery and how that improves the user experience.

YouTube is Google’s gateway to the living room and with the $35 Chromecast dongle now available in several countries, YouTube could become the primary source of both information and entertainment for both cable subscribers and cord-cutters alike. Chromecast makes it easier than ever to watch online video on a television. Sure, Roku and Apple TV have been around for years but Chromecast has the best YouTube integration and can be controlled via native mobile apps or a laptop.

What’s missing? A way to navigate and discover YouTube content based on your personal interest and those of your peers. A more social YouTube can empower not only users but also content creators while redefining the way we use Chromecast.

The fix begins with one [seemingly] simple feature: social subscriptions. The best and easiest way to begin watching YouTube via Chromecast is by browsing the new content from the channels one already subscribes to. But what channels to subscribe to? Users should be able to opt in to publicly share (at least some of) their subscriptions so others can discover new channels to subscribe to. Currently, there is no way to generate a dedicated link to one’s own page of YouTube subscriptions, you can only add a module with videos most recently watched to your own channel (see mine). Granted, not everyone wants to share their viewing preferences publicly – or even with friends – but for those accustomed to sharing and discovering new content and channels on platforms such as YouTube, this feature can be a game changer.

Now YouTube is only one “app” that plays over Chromecast — there’s an entire suite of them, including Netflix, HBO Go, Hulu Plus and others that are standard with the set-tops like Roku and Apple TV. But YouTube is free and has the greatest breadth of content, with more and more being made each day by fast-growing multi-channel networks such as Fullscreen, Machinima and Maker Studios, which will be acquired by Disney and will now be taking several hours of its YouTube content to cable TV, according to reports.

People are flocking to YouTube, no longer just to watch a song or search for a news clip but to watch regularly produced and even episodic content.

UPDATE 12/1/2014: You can now visit a users YouTube channel subscription list, example – youtube.com/user/revolute/channels (revolute is my YT username). There is some semblance of Google+ integration as well, when you go to a channel, you will see Google+ avatars at the top right of your contacts who have already subscribed to the channel. (Click here to make your channel subscriptions private.) With just a unique URL to shareable subscription lists that can be posted to Google+ I wouldn’t have to go through the tedious exercise of creating a web 1.0-style list of recommended YouTube channels for friends to subscribe to (as I recently did — copy/pasted below) and ideally the discoverer wouldn’t need to go through so many clicks to subscribe. Ideally, YouTube could create a profile tab similar to this one on Soundcloud (the YouTube equivalent for audio), which displays the accounts I’m following…

Below: A shortlist of some of the YouTube channels I’ve subscribed to over the years. I’d love recommendations of new channels to check out – there’s so much good stuff out there! Please leave your recos in the comments section.

Right-click (or command-click [Mac] ctrl-click [PC) on the links to open channels in new tabs then click “Subscribe.”

What percentage of your video viewing is Netflix / Blockbuster / TiVo / on demand / torrent / hulu / Joost nowadays?

My deadbeat NetFlix status came to a head today as I jumped into a free trial for Blockbuster’s rental service. I hate Blockbuster, always have — my first job at 14 was as a video store rental clerk at an independent store called Ravinia Video — but, perhaps out of procrastination, perhaps because I’ve been told I should see Across the Universe, I went for it. Then, I went to cancel my Netflix and found that, coincidentally, I was just billed for another month — today.

Where do you all stand with Netflix? For a couple years it felt like everyone was a Netflix subscriber but lately, with the proliferation of DVRs, on-demand cable, torrents, and online video streaming, it feels like times have changed. (Disclaimer: I don’t have cable or satellite TV). Oddly, the only way Netflix has been able to generate press lately was to spark controversy across user forums by threatening to forego user profiles, an announcement that was quickly reversed.

MSNBC Podcasts

By Humanitainment, creators of Baracky.

UPDATE: Check out my interview with Scoble, where I drill him on everything from the iinevitability of Microhoo to ideas on the next Twitter… HERE.

In the first video, I show off my Sierra Wireless 881U AirCard for AT&T that I just picked up. Hopefully bandwidth won’t be an issue when I use this, *ahem* but I’vebeen very impressed with it’s 1-2Mbps down and 1Mb up speeds on AT&T’s 3G network and it’s Mac compatibility. All I really want for Christmas is an N95 (or 96) but they don’t appear to be falling from the sky at H&H. Not yet at least.

My video interview of Scoble should be live at LAist this afternoon.

Lee Rainie’s latest Online Activities & Pursuits survey (d/l .pdf) spotlights increased use of video-sharing sites. Interesting to see this data as it coincides with renewed interest in online video endeavors thanks to the writers strike. Another Pew Survey released six months ago had the percentage of adults (with Internet) who watch video online at 57%. In the end, it’s not about percentages but quality minutes spent viewing online video programming both original and otherwise.

I missed the report on Teen Content Creators (d/l .pdf), released before the holidays, until I caught mention of it on David Weinberger’s blog Friday morning. But a preliminary look at the report shows positive trends in the ways in which teens are engaging in social networks and online activities. Nearly twice as many girls blog than boys, however, that ratio is reversed when it comes to posting online video. 89% of teens who post photos online (47%) say their photos occasionally get commented on.

Previous posts about Pew Internet:
* Is MySpace the Teenage Parking Lot of Today?
* Future of the Internet: Liberty + Privacy
* Pew: Nearly 50 Million Create Own Web Content