Re: If you miss the exit to DCHS

That's a very good question as YouTube and Vimeo are the two main platforms. Here's my opinion:

1. Content. YouTube is targeted at the general public while Vimeo is targeted at creative folks. If you have a chance, go to Vimeo and watch a few of their videos, especially under the Hiking and Camping categories. Notice the qualify difference of the content. I think someone once put it best, in that YouTube is for cat videos while Vimeo is more for those looking for artistic content. Vimeo also does not allow uploads of commercial content while YouTube does.

2. Exposure. YouTube is much larger and thus attracts more video hits. Vimeo due to it's specialized nature has a small audience. Hence if you are going for as much exposure as possible, YouTube is better.

3. Audience. YouTube tends to attract many types of audience and this is reflected in the comments people leave, from good quality feedback to nasty and unnecessary attacks. With Vimeo you will find that people's comments are more intelligent and offer constructive feedback. You will not find profanity or personal attacks against the poster.

4. Technical. YouTube has a lower quality due to the compression algorithms it uses. Vimeo's video quality is much higher. You can see this clearly even if you compare a HD YouTube video to a HD Vimeo video. The disadvantage of Vimeo is that as a result the content may take longer to load and relies that users have a high quality broadband connection.

5. Censorship. Both sites filter and remove content that doesn't meet their standards, but they do it very differently. YouTube may remove a video if it is flagged by users as offensive, inappropriate, etc. Kind of the same way Wizard's content was flagged. Then it is up to you to go through the appeals process. Vimeo removes a video if it is not inline with it's guidelines but it is generally not driven by users. On YouTube your account can be easily flagged as offensive and taken down if someone objects to a video displaying simple nudity, although in YouTube's defense they have loosened their restrictions. Vimeo encourages art and simple nudity if it is a natural part of the video.

6. Ads and commercials. YouTube has them, Vimeo does not. YouTube may invite you to become a partner if your videos become popular to share in profits from advertisers. At Vimeo, users can "tip" you if they enjoyed your video. If you don't mind ads and ultimately think you can use them to generate an income, YouTube is a much better choice. In fact, many teenagers have become millionaires as a result of YouTube's partner program.

7. Accounts. YouTube provides you with open access to upload as many videos as you want and everything is included without additional cost. Vimeo's best features are reserved for those that opt for the paid plans. However, even under those plans, there is still an annual restrictions to the amount of content you can upload per account.

8. Music. This is a sticky and complicated issue. Technically a user is not allowed to use music they did not produce or bought the rights to. However, there was so much copyrighted music content being used on YouTube videos, that the company developed an interesting system to deal with it. Their algorithms detect the song you are using and asks you to decide how you want to handle the case, with one option being able to continue to have your video up but then any revenue generated from it will go to the music company and not you OR you can argue for use under the fair use rule OR you can agree to honor pre-determined conditions that the music company set upon the video. For example, if you try to play my YouTube video from Black's Beach, you will be able to do so on a computer but not on a mobile device due to the song on it. Vimeo has a simpler policy. It basically says you are responsible for all your music and understand copyright restrictions. Therefore, they will not take it down unless they are summoned with a request from the music industry. There are some individual users that have fought back music companies in court and won. One famous case is the mom who posted a video of her kids singing one of Prince's songs. I personally think it's very sad that the music industry continues to live in the 80s and even as recently as within the last decade had to by convinced by the techies (specifically by Apple) to buy into the $1/song model, which makes so much more sense then having to buy a full album to listen to two or three songs, especially for teenagers that work part time and have limited funds. Ultimately, I personally think a better option for them would be to charge for music you would want to use in videos, say $2 per song per video, rather than going after people in court. It would be a win-win scenario. And speaking of the $2 per song concept, Vimeo does have a new music store that does just that, but unfortunately you will only find smaller labels on there. I think if I received a takedown notice, I would likely take the court route as well. It's a battle worth fighting for future generations rather than bowing to the greed and questionable ethics* of those that run the record companies.

* Like targeting moms who have a song playing in the background of a video they shot!

9. Layout. In my opinion Vimeo has a much simpler and cleaner layout for hosting videos.

10. Vimeo allows you to download almost every single video without too much hassle. You can also download YouTube videos, but it requires a few extra steps to bypass the lack of this function on their front pages.

In summary, YouTube is for the masses while Vimeo is specialized. Each has advantages over the other and vice versa.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/08/2014 12:12PM by mohave.