Archive for youtube
New Project Announced? Mitchcraft!
Posted by: | CommentsThis has been a project on the back burner for a while that I am finally getting around to creating. Today I bring to you my newest project, Mitchcraft. This new YouTube series will follow me as I play the sandbox building and adventure game – Minecraft. I will do my best to keep things as entertaining as possible – but I’ll need your help. Make sure you subscribe, like and comment on the videos you see. Giving me feedback on what you do like and don’t like will help me develop a show you want to see.
I think rather than describing it to you, it might be better if I just show you the first episode:
I have been a big fan of others doing these “Let’s Play” type videos for a while. With my experience with recording the Web Hosting Show podcast, I figured the transition should not be too hard to make. New updates for Mitchcraft will only be posted on Mitchelaneous.com, so be sure to subscribe there too (if you are not already doing so). Thank you for your continued support on all of my projects.
Facebook Fan Page Come join the fun on the Web Hosting Show Facebook Fan Page!© Mitch Keeler 2011 | Check out my firefox help site and my tech blog too!
Video Streaming Beyond YouTube – They Really do Exist!
Posted by: | CommentsAccording to web ranking engine Alexa, YouTube is the third most popular web destination in existence. That’s not bad for a site that’s been around for all of 6 years. To date, there’s not been much in the way of significant criticism or controversy on YouTube, so this doesn’t look to change any time soon.
Nonetheless, alternate video sharing web sites exist, some of them rather popular. We looked just recently at some of the music streaming services on the web. Now we go over the list of streaming video sites if, for whatever reason, you want to expand outwards from the world of YouTube.
Dailymotion
With 70 million unique monthly visitors, Dailymotion is second only to YouTube among video streamers. For the most part, it seems because there isn’t all that much in the way of important differences between the two. Both offer videos that can be found through channels, tags, or through suggestions, both have an extensive library, and both attempt to thwart copyright infringement using various types of auto-detection.
One thing you can do with Dailymotion is log into it directly using your Facebook account, with all of the automatic sharing that goes with that. It also contains a group called “MotionMaker” which is specifically for the creators of original content.
Metacafe
Needing to differentiate itself from both of the above competitors, Metacafe shifted their focus in 2006 by attempting to procure high-quality, professional videos. The program paid users for creating videos that were viewed at least 20,000 times and satisfied a few other quality-control metrics. While this created for some interesting art, the program failed to prove any profitability, and it received the ax just two years later.
Going to the site now, one gets the feeling that they are trying to keep this specific momentum going by filling this gap with as much sponsored and Hollywood driven material as possible. Their home page now makes you wonder if you accidentally stumbled upon a MySpace sister site. Search for the content you want, though, and you find a good enough selection, with Facebook commenting architecture. We had to wait through more pre-video advertisements on this site than any other, though.
ScienceStage
It’s surprising that this site isn’t getting more attention. ScienceStage is a user-content site that is centered around communication between those in the sciences, including teachers, engineers, researchers and scholars. The site utilizes an attractively bare-bones design that keeps the focus on the work being done.
Anyone can upload video or audio content, and even live video streams and research papers. The content makes it to the user’s “Stage”. From there, groups are formed (either public or private) which allow users to share data around that group’s intellectual focus.
Gawkk
Gawkk takes a different approach to video streaming. It doesn’t actually host video content, but allows the user to created embedded lists of content found elsewhere on the web. The site is very simple, but does allow users to create lists and share content with each other.
MySpace
Though its star is not what it used to be, MySpace shouldn’t be counted out. They are still one of the most popular sites on the web, and now that they are partnered with Hulu there is a chance that they might have enough oomph still left in them to be a moderately important video hub. This is especially since that was the central theme behind their change in focus in the first place. Perhaps they can do it right this time.
Vimeo
Vimeo puts a strong emphasis on creating a true artistic community. While this makes it a popular hub for the amateur content producer, more established musicians have found it a good place to release new works: Beck, Moby, Britney Spears, Björk and Nine Inch Nails have all used it for this purpose. They are also a home for indie filmmakers. One interesting group is not included in this, though. Gaming videos are no longer allowed for bandwidth reasons.
Vimeo lets users register for free accounts or have paid subscriptions that allow greater limits in video uploading. The site is popular enough that their second “annual” Vimeo awards will be held in Spring 2012 (the first one was 18 months prior), with speakers such as indie film directory Morgan Spurlock and science fiction author Bruce Sterling.
SchoolTube
For those of you who want to introduce your child or your student to video sharing in a safe environment, there is SchoolTube. This is a heavily moderated site aimed at children from kindergarten to the 12th grade. It was created in response to the banning of most video sharing sites in school environments.
Only SchoolTube employees and registered school officials are eligible for moderation, and commenting is restricted to a few pre-set replies to prevent schoolyard antics. The content runs the gamut of just about all common educational topics, but also includes socially-focused areas such as “Community & Public Service” and “Green & Environment”.
OneWorldTV
Speaking of which, we come to OneWorldTV, a video sharing web site centered around social activism. Established in 2001, it is now one of the oldest video sharing web sites online. While it still has not achieved the critical mass of a YouTube, it has a dedicated following, with the slogan “Where the good guys gang up”. Significant focus is placed on developmental problems in third-world countries.
OpenFilm
OpenFilm’s focus is specifically around the generation and sharing of independent films. Strengthening this purpose is its Advisory Board, comprised of film industry veterans such as Robert Duvall, James Caan and Mark Rydell.
As proof of the energy invested into its site, OpenFilm recently held its first “Get It Made” film competition. The winner of the contest will receive $200,000 to take their short film and turn it into a feature.
MaYoMo
Rounding out our list is MaYoMo, short for “Map Your Moments.” The idea behind MaYoMo is to be a hub for citizen journalism. The user can upload video news which is then tagged by location and time, letting others create news timelines. Whether you consider this a good thing or not, they also allow the same format for virtual worlds such as World of Warcraft, Second Life, Half-Life and if it’s available in your area Four-and-Three-Sevenths-Life.
Related posts:
Best YouTube Clone Scripts
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So, you want to start your own website where people can upload videos of dogs of skateboards? A few years back, this would be nearly impossible. These days though, finding a script that will clone many of the best features a video sharing service like YouTube has is pretty easy. There are a lot of duds out there though in the world of YouTube clone scripts so I have gone through the trenches to find you the three best scripts for the job.
ClipBucket
ClipBucket is a free open source script that will not only let you get started with creating your own video sharing service, but it also provides a lot of great social networking features too. Customizable templates and plugins are readily available for any ClipBucket powered website. So this means it should be fairly easy to get a unique template designed and to customize your ClipBucket install to meet your own vision of what you want your video sharing website to be. Check them out at clip-bucket.com to learn more.
PHPmotion
PHPmotion is another great free video sharing script to try. With both video and audio support, this script looks to deliver a lot when it comes to features too. There are a number of great looking themes for PHPmotion that are well worth checking into and a reported user base of 100,000 webmasters – so the support for this script should be phenomenal too. With little to no knowledge required, you can start up your own video sharing website. Go visit phpmotion.com to download it for yourself.
ClipShare
ClipShare promises to be the ultimate video script for starting a highly profitable video sharing community. While it is not free, it might give you the proverbial “step up” if PHPmotion or ClipBucket do not seem a professional as you would like them to be. Over 20 video formats are supported in ClipShare, videos are converted on the fly and you get a fully brand-able video player that other people can embed on their websites. The website, clip-share.com is where you want to go to learn more about this amazing premium video sharing script.
Now, this is not to say these are the only three choices out there. These however seem to have the best resources, reviews and simply look the best overall. I think if you mix a great FFMPEG hosting provider with ClipBucket, PHPmotion or Clipshare you will have great success when it comes to getting your own YouTube-like website off the ground and on the Internet.
Facebook Fan Page Come join the fun on the Web Hosting Show Facebook Fan Page!© Mitch Keeler 2010 | Check out my firefox help site and my tech blog too!
YouTube Clone Hosting – Podcast 217
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Welcome to the first Web Hosting Show for 2011. So what is the first thing we have to talk about in the sixth year of this broadcast? I want to touch on the topic of getting your own YouTube clone set up. We will tear apart the basic necessity you need (FFMPEG hosting) and give you a few good scripts to try out so you too can get on the social video sharing bandwagon.
Running Time: 7 minutes | File Size: 3.14 MB
You can make a clone of about any popular website service out there, and YouTube is no exception. You basically need the FFMPEG tools to help convert the video or audio into a digestible web format and a script to organize it all. Sounds pretty simple, right?
Here is what we have in store for you on today’s show:
Time to take a look at another hosting term you might have heard of but didn’t really know what it means. FFMPEG hosting is the word up for review today. This is a term that is used to refer to any time of hosting that provides an assortment of of recording, converting and streaming tools for audio and video on the server side.
So, you want to start your own website where people can upload videos of dogs of skateboards? A few years back, this would be nearly impossible. These days though, finding a script that will clone many of the best features a video sharing service like YouTube has is pretty easy. There are a lot of duds out there though in the world of YouTube clone scripts so I have gone through the trenches to find you the three best scripts for the job.
That is it for today’s show. Hope you enjoy – and if you have any feedback be sure to use the contact link above or leave a comment and share with me your own thoughts on FFMPEG hosting.
Facebook Fan Page Come join the fun on the Web Hosting Show Facebook Fan Page!© Mitch Keeler 2010 | Check out my firefox help site and my tech blog too!
Utilizing Video Marketing to Optimize Search Engine Results
Posted by: | CommentsVideo content sites like YouTube are quickly becoming the most popular platforms for content sharing and information awareness. Using video to market for website is a great opportunity to increase the exposure of your online business and a fantastic way to increase the the search engine ranking for your site. When using a search engine to browse the internet a video will usually take the top spot in the results. What follows is an example of how one can reach the top of the search engines with no monetary obligations in a short period of time.
How to Increase the Popularity of Your Website Using Video
As is common knowledge, the popularity of a website has much impact on the search engine results. The more well known a website is, the more people will link to it, higher numbers of links will in turn yield more hits from search engines. Viewing internet marketing in this way almost reminds one of a snowball effect. The more you pile on, the faster the site will take off. One of the best things about video marketing is that people are more likely to watch a video as apposed to reading page after page of information. Added to this the fact that most people are more likely to link to a video than a text page and you can see the obvious advantages of video marketing.
Be Easily Accessible
One of the more common issues with video marketing is the format in which it is done. Many people use Flash software to add video content to their websites. The problem with Flash videos is that they are not easily picked up by search engines. Because of this it is generally recommended that when adding video to your website that a video sharing site like YouTube be used. YouTube offers a different format that is more easily accessed on the web than Flash formats and will increase the odds of being seen.
Using YouTube you can link videos to your website or embed them into the actual page themselves for easy viewing allowing readers to never have to leave your site in order to view the content that they have been searching for. Many YouTube videos are displayed at the top of most search engines and offer great exposure to those seeking it. With good keyword placement it is possible to reach the top of search engines.
Do Not Be Mundane
Most people do not realize that one of the factors of successful search engine utilization is the time spent on your site by visitors. Search engines like Google use advance algorithms to gauge how long each visitor to your website stays on your page. The longer a visitor views your page, the higher the ranking of your website will be with search engines. Knowing this, it is best to try and keep guests to encourage guests of your web page to stay longer periods of time. Using video content will give users something to do while visiting your page. Watching videos, for many people, is often the easier softer alternative to actually reading page upon page of information. Adding videos to your website will encourage browsers to stay longer periods of time and thus increase the ranking of your site.