•Dear Jeff Bezos, Amazon is asleep at the wheel.
•Ebay, You should have been vBay 24 months ago.
•Craig Newmark, Do you know you own a TV network?

Guys - you're blowing it.

You see, video isn't passive entertainment -  it's the voice of your customers. And from looking at the traffic on YouTube, there's no shortage of it.

But you're blowing it - and here's why.

A zillion years ago Amazon figured out that they should allow readers to review books.  Righto.  Since then, nada.   Why hasn't Amazon turned on a hugely powerful user-generated video commenting solution? Why doesn't Amazon allow video comments on reviews?  Why isn't Amazon allowing user video recommendations (heck,  even paying for them like the super-smart guys at Expo TV do?). Is Jeff sleepy?  Hardly. Amazon Web Services is busting out all over (disclaimer, we use S3 for our back-end video hosting). And a few years back they purchased Custom Flix,  a neat DVD on demand product that's languished. Instead they've focused on Amazon Unboxed, an unwieldy service that is gunning for the wrong end of the Long Tail.  Hint, it's not called the Long 'Head'.

Amazon+UGV= Powerhouse content creation, curation, and recommendation solution. Build it, or rent it, or buy it - but do it yesterday.

Craigslist.  Ok these guys are more web 2.0 for sure.  Craig gets it. Free is the core product.  He's not about censorship, or command and control, or even keeping risky stuff off the brand.  But they’re in text based stone-ages. Why?  Where is Video?  Why can't I SEE the apartment that is for rent?  Or MEET the craftsman or service provider who's offering me a cool deal on a service I need. Wouldn't it help me get a sense of who's presenting themselves in an ad?  Craig, less text - more video,  ok?  Craigslist. TV no-brainer methinks (we still love you though).

So this is the one I don't get.  Somehow, Niklas Zennström gets eBay all jazzed about monetizing community 'voice' (as in Skype)  sells them Skype for a kabillion dollars,  and then splits the building with the peer-to-peer patents and Joost under his arm.  eBay is left with a phone company (yum)  and rather than notice that they've got business that could be turned into vBay in about 10 seconds,  they instead fall apart and begin to look like the once great auction site has fallen and can't get up.   Now, I don't use eBay,  it's too complicated for me,  I just buy stuff on Craigslist and give stuff away on Freecycle,   but I'd WATCH vBay - no doubt.  I love that PBS show Antiques Road Show.   So whoever' in charge,  vBay - ok?  (Velocity's Jonathan Miller had that name first, but you can think one up).  It's video or die (and that's not funny).

I could go on.  This isn't hard. Gmail - you guys do own YouTube, right?Yahoo (ok, never mind).

But, it's not all bad. Sarah Fay, the CEO of Carat - is now publicly talking about how important it is for brands to grab hold of their customers UGV and begin to invite,  curate, and even (gasp) embrace UGV.  Ok,  there's someone whose read the tea leaves and come away with some actionable items.

But, I'm not done.

There's someone else.  You.  You watched your kids on YouTube and thought - wow,  that's weird.  You maybe scratched your head and tried to figure out how to make a 'viral' video (duh, it's viral because it wasn't made to be,  ask your kids).  And now, as the economy slows,  and the writers are back to work,  you're secretly relieved that things aren't changing 'that fast'. They are.

Ecommerce.  Dating.  Auctions.  Comedy.  Community.  Branding.  News. Politics. It's all about User-Generated Video. There's a sea-change happening.  And the leaders in the web aren't on it.  Amazon. Ebay.  Craigslist. Guys,  time to get in the game.  Heck - even NBC beat you - how crazy is that?

Your community has a Video Voice,  empower it and embrace it,  or ignore it at your peril.

Steve Rosenbaum is the CEO of Magnify.net - a platform for video discovery,  community curation,  and peer publishing.