Read/Write Web has become one of my favorite blogs with insightful posts. Most recent example:
Seeking Alpha also notes that many of the fastest-growing websites are localized Google properties - showing two clear trends, the importance of Google and the internationalization of the Web. The former gets plenty of press and blog coverage, the latter less so. But both are of equal importance in my view.
The second point is the essential one for this post!
The majority of the future Internet growth comes from outside the U.S. (and Europe for that matter). Succeeding means succeeding globally. The emerging markets out there are evolving quickly. Act now before someone else becomes the leader.
Localization can be tricky but is often essential to succeed in a local market. That’s one of the reasons local competitors can survive next to the global players.
Interestingly enough YouTube doesn’t have a localized version and is still very successful globally.