Video Sharing and You
In such a fast paced, “I want it yesterday” oriented world, video is the best way to get a message across. Gone are the days where people are willing to read a multi page article where there are thousands of people willing to share the message via video.
The question is not “what magazine/paper should I put my article in,” but rather “where do I host my video?” Well, in this post, I’ll be reviewing a few popular video-hosting sites in order to help target your posting regardless of the purpose.
YouTube
Let’s get the popular site out of the way. Everyone knows about YouTube. This site features very easy method to upload videos, a huge user base, and even an in-browser editor. The problem with the intense popularity of this site is that, due to the high volume of videos, more popular posts might overtake the video you post. It’s really easy to make a video about a popular topic, but it’s more difficult to have that video about that topic be popular.
With YouTube, there are a lot of additions that helps creators make their video popular as well as Insight that acts as an analytic tool to see how your videos are doing. YouTube has also done some amazing things with the quality of video uploading, including uploading in 4K. The quality options are definitely a big advantage if you are uploading a creative work for display.
With the creation of YouTube Mobile and Leanback, as wall as the services addition to popular media streaming set top boxes, you can be assured that your message will have a wide audience, but there is a huge chance that, unless the user is searching for your video specifically, your video may not be seen.
Vimeo
Vimeo’s tagline is “Vimeo is a respectful community of creative people who are passionate about sharing the videos they make.” With just a quick glance at their website, that is easy to tell. This is a site geared more towards the filmmaker than just an average Joe who wants to post a video rant or a video of their friend falling down a flight of stairs.
They have a stricter rule set than YouTube, but that is the allure of filmmakers to Vimeo, the fact that not every video will be allowed to crowd the network. They are about distributing creative content, which, if you are a filmmaker, is great. They don’t allow commercial advertisement, gameplay videos, or even music videos. If you don’t own the copyright to it, they will not allow it. This is to make sure that only purely original and creative work is let onto the site.
Vimeo is great for budding filmmakers, but not so good for business. You can tell that they are trying to help creative uploaders by the way they take their involvement. They have a support line you can call and even live AIM help. They also have Vimeo Plus, which adds more features and uploading capabilities for those who are serious about having a place to house all of their work. This site is truly dedicated to the creation of creative content.
Viddler
If Vimeo is for creative content, then Viddler sits another side of the spectrum claiming that they help you build your brand. They claim to help your video get seen and even distribute it to other sites, like iTunes. They have a lot of customization options, including video overlays that link back to your homepage.
Viddler also has “interactive” elements that allow your users to comment on your videos on the actual video timeline. They have a lot of options unique to them, including the reselling of their services.
I was truly intrigued by the bevy of options that are offered by this service. However, a lot of the neat options that are available to video uploaders only come with paid and business accounts. Based on my research, those premium accounts start at $100. Considering that you can get video hosting for free and also find ways to get the same features that they offer, not exactly the same way that they offer them, but with a few creative work-arounds.
Unless you are serious about making money with your videos or branding is a concern, then Viddler isn’t the best option for you. However, if your site heavily relies on video, than this site offers video player customization, brand overlay, and even an incredibly powerful analytical tool that monitors everything from bandwidth to attention span.
Vimation
Vimation is unlike any of the other sites I’ve listed above due to its inability to have outside users upload their own content. Instead, they take clients and make an interactive video site. This is great for big companies to make a neat user interface.
Sadly, if you are a small company, you will, most likely, not be able to afford their services. However, you probably not need their services if you don’t have any huge project or huge budget. Judging by their past cases, they have done great work. So, Vimation is an amazing service, but it is definitely not open or easy to get into.
These are just a few of the video sharing and creation sites that are available on the Internet. DailyMotion and XtraNormal do get honorable mentions.
DailyMotion is an awesome site that has it advantages, but to me, it is poorly organized. I couldn’t find my way around that site. It, to me, seemed like a YouTube knockoff. That’s just me and your opinions may vary.
Then there is the XtraNormal site, which, at the time of this publishing, has taken off. It takes pre-drawn characters and allows people to add some music and voice without having to record a single thing. However, there aren’t that many videos up on the site and it does cost to make films as spectacular as you might want them to do.
At the end of the day, it all comes down to whatever site you like the best as well as what site best fits your purposes.
This article is the first in a four-part series on Social Media resources.
Part 2 in the series focuses on Online Photo Sharing Services.
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