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What do Justin Bieber and Google have in common (beyond the YouTube love affair, naturally)?

According to Forbes 100 most powerful celebrities, Bieber is the youngest on the list sitting solidly in the No. 3 position, in between Oprah and U2. He's got 33.9 million Facebook fans and 11.4 million Twitter followers, and his video "Baby" is the most-watched YouTube clip ever, with more than 561 million views. He isn’t merely a celebrity who was discovered on YouTube; he is the king of it.

Meanwhile, Google is ranked 4th in Interbrand’s Best Global Brands 2011, and 2nd by the BrandZ Most Valuable Global Brands, keeping good company in the digital space along with Apple, IBM and Microsoft. In fact, the only brand listed in the top five that is not a technology company is Coca-Cola.

But the reason for calling out this social media couple goes beyond the stats and revenue streams. What each of them hold, for very different reasons, is immense cultural capital. Only they arrived at it in totally different ways--one through entertainment, and one through usefulness.

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