Vimeo

Vimeo is a community website for sharing original video work. Vimeo was one of the earlier social network video sites, having launched in late 2004. The idea is similar to YouTube, in that users upload their own original content. Vimeo tries to differentiate itself from other video sharing sites, such as YouTube, and Google Video, by concentrating on original, user generated content. You won't find movie trailers, music videos, sports clips and blooper videos here, just user created material. Vimeo is highly popular in the artistic community for this very reason, along with its high quality, widescreen video streams which allow for greater detail in vision and sound, as well as making the most of a broadband connection. Once you are registered, uploading videos is a snap (with 500 MB of free storage) and you can embed videos in your blog or website. You can file your video under an existing channel or create your own channel. Like other social networking based sharing sites, you can leave comments on other people's work or add people as contacts. Vimeo uses a very pleasant look and feel, which fills your screen with soothing pastel colors. There are no on-screen distractions and advertising is minimal. The navigation bar in the top right corner uses drop down menus to minimize clutter and make navigation easy. At any time you can search videos using keywords to browse videos or video channels. Like other video sites, you are free to browse existing clips without needing to register. However, registering is free and will allow you to upload up to 500 MB of your own video clips. The registration process itself is simple, requiring you to specify only a name, e-mail and password. No e-mail verification process is necessary. Vimeo is a free service funded by advertising. Vimeo doesn't have as much content as Google Video or YouTube, but comes highly recommended if you are browsing for interesting, user-made videos with an artistic twist. The technical quality of the site is also outstanding.