Big Think

YouTube for Ideas - Backed by Larry Summers, Peter Thiel and one the Nantucket Nectar guys, Big Think is an ambitious site which is trying to change the way ideas are shared on the internet. By providing 5 minute interviews with luminaries (academics, CEOs, politicians, etc) talking about important topics (war, environment, culture, etc), the site hopes to inspire viewers to engage in discussion on these topics and upload their own videos with their own ideas.

Right now, with the site in closed Beta, Big Think still seems rough around the edges. When you land on the homepage, you're prompted to view a long video of snippets from interviews, which is neither interesting nor informative. It's unclear what you're meant to do next. However, visit the Browse Experts section, and you can see a decent list of expert interviews: http://www.bigthink.com/experts/

From a pure content standpoint, this site can't compete with the video offerings on sites like www.charlierose.com but in the long-run, it's an important public good for people to be better informed on the issues that matter to the world. So if a few more people spend less time on Facebook and more time thinking about how to make the world a better place on sites like Big Think, we will probably all be better off. I'm rooting for these guys.

Since being acquired at the end of last year, Big Think have dishonoured thousands of their customer accounts and without any notice ceased all services they were legally obliged to provide. These dodgy business practices are currently now with the FTC.