I was so excited when someone told me they saw the new John Legend ft. Andre 3000 video on MTV. I went straight to YouTube to search for it, and clicked on the first link that came up. Imagine my surprise when the video was branded Yahoo!
That got me thinking though. YouTube really IS the video king. I can’t even think about how many projects I’ve worked on that included video thus included research on online video players. The main theme that’s out there for sites is, even if they’re going to host their own video, they need to have some of their content on YouTube to drive traffic back to their own site. This of course, makes me both happy and sad. I am happy because amazingly obscure videos no one would have heard of (It’s so cold in the D anyone?) or hard to find videos can be found on YouTube. However, the quality is horrific (though I have been spotting some super high quality videos popping up like this opening for the japanese cartoon Moyashimon).
You might be asking, why does this matter? As more and more video content goes digital, I gurantee that more and more Black video content will be online and the gap between Black broadcast video and Black online video will close. It is important as all these new black media sites that are incorporating video know where to put their stuff to gain traffic and properly engage in all that cool web 2.0 community stuff: YouTube (plus, professional content is more than likely going to be what ends up driving revenue on YouTube and I heard something about profit sharing with content owners and ad revenue).
That being said, I still love vimeo for the quality and community aspects, and I am really hoping that they continue to have growth. Their HD channel is awesome… so awesome I’d say it looks shiny and new every time I see it. What is your favorite non-YouTube, community driven video site?
September 11th, 2008 at 4:30 pm
Hey Jade,
I don’t have anything intelligent to say, but I liked the post and I agree with you–Vimeo is AWESOME!!!!
September 11th, 2008 at 4:53 pm
I recently joined vimeo for the very fact that their video quality is far superior than YouTube. I’ve just begun uploading my concert videos to vimeo while still uploading to YouTube due to my large following on there and the differences are incredible. I wonder why vimeo isn’t bigger than it is, especially considering that they went online before YT?
http://www.vimeo.com/itslikebuttababy
http://www.youtube.com/user/itslikebuttababy
September 11th, 2008 at 8:38 pm
@Buttaine popularity contest
I think that the main reason vimeo hasn’t taken off in the same way is probably the UI. There are so many calls to action on the YouTube main page, rating, community tabs, top pics etc. It more like an online rating site for video than a video content site. Vimeo’s main page is more focused with fewer options of where to go next. It doesn’t highlight the community aspects as much nor does it make users feel there is as much of an opportunity to be “discovered” which is what I think a large number of users use YouTube for.
Also, Vimeo is more editorlized. The one video they have on the main page is “videos we like”, meaning staff picks, vs YouTube’s multiple options, what people are watching, featured, popular etc… all with rating modules right there, so more web2.0 community stuff. As a result of this though, Vimeo tends to get a different kind of video than YouTube… more artsy generally is the best way to explain it I guess. We’ll see what happens though. There really is no longer an excuse for YouTube to have such crappy video quality overall and I have seen more and more vimeo videos popping up all over the web.
September 11th, 2008 at 11:50 pm
I’m seeing more Vimeo videos popping up as well which is great. It appears to me that Vimeo users care more about the video production quality overall than YT users.
September 12th, 2008 at 1:09 am
Hey Butta.
I was checking out your blog and man it was great. Found some really great information about CD releases, tours but most importantly that Maxwell is on tour. I’ll read this blog, yours and others I found through your site.
September 12th, 2008 at 11:25 am
@ Jade
Yes, the UI on vimeo could be a little bit more user friendly and interactive. YouTube has trumped them in that regard, but if vimeo wants to be competitive, and why wouldn’t they, then mayhaps they’ll consider an aesthetically pleasing redesign with more community and networking features. And vimeo is popping up more and more places, which is how I became aware of it and decided to give it a go. A lot of hip hop artists (Q-Tip immediately comes to mind) favor it, in addition to OnSmash and WorldStarHipHop, which also have higher quality vids than YouTube. When I’m looking for video content to post on SoulBounce, YT is always my last resort.
@ VIZO
Thanks for the compliments on SoulBounce. It’s not just mine, though, it’s a collaborative effort. Glad that you enjoyed your visit and come back daily.