Download Squad is reporting that YouTube, taking a page out of Google's playbook, has launched a service to compete, at least on some level, with Facebook.

Colleges on YouTube is a closed community for college students. You must have an .edu email address to join. College students who are already members of YouTube under another email address can confirm their .edu address and gain admission to the community.

The list of colleges is limited at the moment, but more colleges will be added soon, according to a note on the Colleges on YouTube page.

What remains to be seen is what features other than uploading and commenting on videos will be offered by YouTube. If the college site looks like the rest of YouTube, then it will be more of an addition to Facebook than a direct competitor. If more features are added, it may be game on.

I think it's a clever move on YouTube's part to try to expand its reach into the social networking space, particularly for college age kids and recent graduates, almost all of whom seem to have some online networking presence.

I suspect more will be revealed about YouTube's new venture in the coming days.

Tags: youtube, facebook, social networking