Social video websites
Michael Reed takes a look at websites that combine video hosting with social networking tools, while comparing free and paid-for options.
Facebook Watch YouTube Vimeo Odysee DTube
Michael Reed has literally tens of subscribers wishing he’d post to his YouTube channel more often.
HOW WE TESTED…
The first part of our assessment was the easiest part of the process. We placed ourselves in the position of a consumer of video content and used these platforms to browse and watch videos. While doing this, we tested the possibilities to bounce the content around different viewing devices, which is an essential aspect of video watching these days.
Primarily, we considered what you get with a free account on these services, admittedly, with an eye on what the paid-for options offer.
Taking on the role of a content creator (exciting buzz words alert! – Ed), we generated a screencast tutorial at 1,080p with maximum quality and we uploaded it to each of the sites. In each case, we kept an eye out for any limitations that might affect Linux users in particular, but they all played nice with open standards and typical browser setups. So, there wasn’t much to report in that area. This led us to assess the commenting, sharing and analytics areas of each site.
W e’re taking a look at social video websites – sites that combine video hosting with social networking features. When it comes to the suitability of a given service, the scenario that we’re imagining is a typical Linux user who also wants to become a content creator. That means that we’ve passed over some of the most famous social video networking sites such as TikTok and Instagram because they’re not as suitable for ‘serious’ use.
YouTube is one of the most popular sites online, and its content makes up a significant part of the entertainment diet of the average internet user. Well known for viral content and short form videos, it also contains a significant amount of more substantial content such as reviews, self-made documentaries and even professionally made content.
When you say ‘social network’ many people will immediately think of Facebook, and Facebook Watch is that platform’s integrated video viewing and aggregating system. Two of the sites that we’re looking at, Odysee and DTube, operate slightly differently with more of an emphasis on decentralised content meaning that the user has greater freedom as they are less affected by the censorship whims of a hosting site. Finally, Vimeo is a mecca for amateur filmmakers. Let’s see how well they all fared…
Commenting and rating
Let’s make sure that viewers can interact with the content.
T his area puts the social in social video, because it’s important that videos can be interacted with by the viewers. At a minimum, we want a userbase to be able to leave comments and rate videos, and all of the sites could manage this. Of course, the best promotion is when the viewers themselves can post links to your content, and all of the sites that we have tested had a facility to post a link to a video on all the major social networking sites.
Since Google took control of YouTube, it has actually removed some of the social interaction facilities such as the ability to post videos in replies to other videos and a option for users to post private messages to each other. Videos can be voted up, but unfortunately it’s no longer possible to see how many people have voted them down. Despite everything that has been removed in the past, YouTube still has a full complement of features, including the ability to rate comments and sort the comments by newness or popularity.