It's hard to imagine that a single website could bring in so many visitors every day, but if we are to believe a recent report that analyzed metrics from web analysis firm ComScore, Google, Inc.'s (NASDAQ: GOOG) YouTube property is doing just that. According to JMP Securities, Google has accomplished quite a bit of growth from the July 2006 period to the July 2007 period. Should Yahoo, Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) and Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) be worried at these Google growth numbers in the last year?

• Worldwide users up 20%
• U.S. users up 18% (now 22% of 552 million global total)
• Time spent on sites up 113%
• Page views up 56%
• Google Maps up 98% to 682 million, crushing Yahoo's 397 million (which is up 32%)

Those numbers, if validated, are hugely significant. Google's command of the time spent on the internet is increasing in a large way, and with the possible fact that Google's YouTube is commanding 28% of the total minutes spent on Google's global web properties, what is next? How about less revenue for starters? YouTube is not nearly as profitable as Google's cash-cow AdWords system, which brings in nearly all of Google's current barn-burning revenue every quarter. If more and more eyeballs shift to YouTube instead of Google Search, will Google's revenue suffer? Maybe.

Google has to figure out a way to make YouTube (and other public properties that are popular) profitable in a growing way. It's just now starting to experiment with this, adding ads to YouTube (to the chagrin of many customers) and it will inevitable try other ways to sift advertising revenue from the YouTube property. If it doesn't, a revenue crimp from the company may be a result in future quarters. Well, that is, if AdWords stops growing as a revenue source, which probably won't happen.

User-generated content (the YouTube phenomenon) has sent the entire internet industry scrambling for a piece of its ad-revenue potential. Now, any bozo with a video camera can produce his/her own masterpiece and find an audience of millions (just like Hollywood bozos do).

What if, however, your creativity runs to internet gadgets, mashups, and web pages? Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) doesn't believe your lack of html expertise should freeze you out of the market.

Following the lead of Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) and Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO), Microsoft has launched a new tool, Popfly Creator, to take the coding work out of creating user-built web content. It has also launched a community, Popfly Space, to host the creations.

With Popfly Creator, you'll be able to piece together feeds to create your own custom web pages, or mash them up to create something new and wonderful (or dreadful). For example, suppose your life dream is to create a real-time display correlating the temperature in Mumbai, the S&P 500 average, and the color of the shirt you have on, in a 3-D graph? Popfly could make that dream come true, for better or worse.

Microsoft is not, as usual, first with concept. Yahoo launched Yahoo Pipes last year. Google has allowed mashups utilizing Google Earth and Google Maps.

MSFT is currently spooning out user privileges, perhaps hoping to clone the video site Joost's success in cultivated allure through the illusion of scarcity.

The new program is built using Microsoft's new Silverlight platform, but the average user won't need to know that. Microsoft is betting that, if they allow the world to unleash its creativity, some great content is bound to result -- the million monkeys approach. Then, by hosting such content on Popfly Space, the company will gain the eyeballs they need to grow their advertising revenue.

Presidential candidates are trying to lure voters on News Corp.'s (NYSE:NWS) MySpace site, showing that they will go to any lengths to feign interest in the concerns of America's youth.

Next up, John McCain will try out for the X games. Hilliary Clinton will dive into a mosh pit while Barack Obama woos voters playing "The Second Life." Mitt Romney seems a bit straight-laced for anything extreme. He's going to have to learn how to skateboard.

The Web will be a key battleground for the 2008 presidential election. Howard Dean paved the way for this though the enthusiasm of his Internet supporters didn't translated into enough real-world voters. Both Democrats and Republicans, though were stunned by how much money Dean raised over the Web.

Since the country is pretty even divided, every constituency there is a going to be a big fight for every demographic even young people, most of whom don't bother voting. This is going to be a boon for MySpace and Google Inc.'s (NASDAQ:GOOG) YouTube though it's unclear how much profits they will make from political spending.

But candidates need to be careful. Internet popularity can be fleeting. Thanks to the Web, there's no hiding from mistakes. Gaffes, mi statements and other errors spread on the Web faster than speed of spin.