Today I would like to review a video hosting/sharing website called Vimeo.Now I know what your thinking,whats the point of using something like Vimeo or Metacafe,when there is really one main powerhouse that dominants the market,YouTube.I totally understand your logic on that,in fact YouTube is the only video sharing website I use. Hopefully from doing these series of articles,I will try to convince myself and others to become more open minded,and realize that there are good alternatives out their. I will try to not make this a YouTube vs Vimeo,but it may seem like that because I am trying to present a foreign platform to most people through a known example(ie.Youtube)Now onto the review!
Vimeo is a video sharing site similar to YouTube with a little over 3 million members in its community. Vimeo is very similar to YouTube in the aspect that you upload videos for other viewers to see,comment,rate,etc.The main difference between these two media sharing sites,is content. On YouTube you can find a video on anything,and I mean ANYTHING.Whereas Vimeo is molded more towards musicians,independent film makers,indie artists,etc. The reason for this is because Vimeo is very strict on uploading content that is not yours/Copyrighted.This is really the ultimate reason why Vimeo is not as popular because you will never see game plays,concerts,commercials,unless you are given the creators permission witch rarely happens.I honestly think Vimeo is meaning well by doing this,but in todays market it will be very hard to succeed with such limiting restrictions. This could mean a good thing though,because people that see your work on Vimeo will know for a fact that the content is “yours”. One thing that impressed me about Vimeo,was the strong and supportive community.Browsing through the Vimeo forums,I found that most of the users are a very mature and polite group. Not that YouTube’s users are bad,but you are bound to have a few sour apples in the lot. Overall,Vimeo’s users are a neat and tight knit community.
No harsh feeling towards Vimeo,but I honestly think you would be best off to stick with your YouTube account.Sorry Vimeo, but YouTube’s Google integration,many millions of viewers, nice user interface, and great quality compare close to none.If you are looking for a great place to publish that new piece of violin music you composed,and don’t want to stress about someone infringing you Copyright,then Vimeo is the place to go.In most other cases,I would stick with YouTube.
Vimeo Rating:6/10
What are your thoughts about Vimeo? Are there any other video sharing sites that you would recommend(besides YouTube)?
Stay Tuned for an upcoming review of Metacafe!
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