14 DAY TRIAL // The Mountain View-based company Google has just made what seems to be an important update addressed to business owners as they are now able to publish YouTube videos and photos next to their listings. As you know, Google Maps lets you find a certain business, as well as lots of details and reviews concerning the entry. What's more useful is that the reviews are written by users so, in case you're wondering if the pizza served at "Joe's" is good or not, check out the mini-reviews.
However, from now on, business owners have the ability to embed YouTube clips straight into their entry, allowing viewers to get the business details in a different way than text. In order to embed a clip into the business listing, all a business owner has to do is to publish the clip on YouTube, enable the embed function, copy the embed code and paste into the special box provided by the Local Business Center.
"I'm excited to report the Google Maps team launched a new feature that showcases embedded YouTube videos in Maps. Geotagged YouTube videos have been available in Google Earth since last year, and we thought that it was only natural to extend this functionality to Google Maps. Videos can be found on the 'Photos & Videos' tab of the info bubble that appears when you click on a listing," Julia Li, Strategic Partner Management, Google Maps, wrote on the company's blog.
The implementation of YouTube in Google Maps may be a good additional to the web-based map service but, what I think to be a great update would be Street View, allowing viewers to see the exterior of a business, no matter if we're talking about restaurants, bakeries or fast-foods. Sometimes, the outside view means more than any other commercial...