With all of the recent advances in Internet technology over the years, such as Wi-Fi and satellite broadband, uploading audio and video documents has never been easier.
Only a few years ago, people living outside of cities - out of the DSL and cable infrastructures - had to rely on dial-up connections to access the World Wide Web. Although they could check their email, the speed of a 56K connection was anything but fast, taking multiple minutes to download a Web page and anywhere between a half an hour and two hours to download a short video or song. But, with satellite Internet hitting the scene in full force, these rural folk are able to upload and download videos with ease, which is great for the independent farmers that constantly update their Web sites in order to keep up with the competition.
Yet, when it comes to overall video uploading, downloading and imbedding (linking videos from other sites on to a blog or different Web page), it seems that there are only two sites primarily used: Youtube.com and Vimeo. On the surface, these sites seem to be very similar. But after a little digging, there are a few characteristics that definitely differentiate the two.
Youtube.com - As one of the largest search engines on the Internet (some sources claim it to be the 2nd largest, one below Google), Youtube.com is more often than not the go-to-site for all things video on the Internet. Besides a huge variety of music videos and movie trailers, individual people produce their own content and broadcast it on the site to show off their talents - or lack there of - to the online community. In fact, many people use the platform as a launching off point, becoming an online sensation or at least, a personality. Bo Burnham, for example, is a comedian and songwriter who found Internet celebrity after he posted numerous videos of his songs, music videos and stand up routines. Additionally, many international journalists as well as citizen journalists upload their video reports to Youtube.com in order to inform the public. In disaster stricken areas or countries repressed by governments, people upload their home videos over a satellite Internet connection in order to get their message, their stories, out to the world. This is one of the reasons why the Web site is banned in certain countries.
Vimeo - Although a lot less popular than Youtube.com, Vimeo is up there as one of the highest quality video sharing Web sites. In fact, both the video editing and video producing communities embrace the site. With a very large library of content ranging across all genres, the site is a great alternative to downloading and uploading videos. Additionally, many people recommend the utilization of the site over its predecessor when imbedding videos on personal blogs and other Web sites. Since it supports the HD format, world travelers can upload their personal, high quality adventure videos over a Wi-Fi or satellite broadband connection to Vimeo and then imbed the link on to their blog in order to share their journeys with their families and friends. And now that satellite Internet has enabled Internet access to people in foreign countries as well as in rural, barren areas, more and more individuals are utilizing the site. Thus, its popularity is growing at a rapid rate, and is beginning to give Youtube.com a run for its money.
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