Vimeo vs. YouTube

This week, The Ill Professors discuss online decorum and user-generated content sites such as YouTube and Vimeo. As it becomes easier to record, edit and upload video, deciding how and where your content will featured is an important choice.

RANDY BANDIT'S TAKE:


Pop quiz: Which of these sites would you find a video of someone passing gas on a match and nearly killing himself? YouTube or Vimeo? Here’s another one: Which of these sites would you find people looking to engage strictly in artistic creativity and constructive criticism? While some would argue that it depends, the reality is that Vimeo’s community specializes in creating an artistic space that seeks to set itself apart from any other video uploading site.


Just a few years ago, I was a person who watched several TV programs religiously and went to the movies with the frequency of a person who didn’t have a job to go to. Now, I find myself spending more and more time online, and inevitably, I find myself going back to the two above-mentioned websites, but each for different reasons.


With YouTube, I get to watch the great music videos I grew up with. I also get to see Pinky going off on Craig in Next Friday without having to watch the whole movie. In addition to that, I get to see plenty of people embarrass themselves or inflict pain on others all in the name of humor. Sadly, there have been times when I watched a video of someone getting kicked in his family jewels by some kid and replayed it to laugh all over again. Whether a video is serious or for fun, if the comment board is open to the general public, there will be some of the most brutal, sexist, homophobic, racist, and downright ignorant comments anywhere on the Internet. That’s the part that eats me up the most about YouTube—because I accept that people post a lot of mess on there—these cyberbullies who sit in their parents’ basements, hiding behind anonymous handles and ripping everyone and everything to shreds. And that’s exactly why Vimeo is able to survive in today’s Internet video market.


Vimeo is the website for amateur and professional auteurs, people who care about what they post and take the time to consider that they might actually run for office one day and don’t need to have a video of them using the bathroom circulating around in cyberspace. Even the comments left by the majority of the site's participants are overwhelming positive or at the very least constructively critical. In other words, Vimeo is a site for people who enjoy making videos and watching videos that usually underwent some type of non-linear editing.


Why is either site worth mentioning today, though? Well, it has become increasingly easier to upload videos to the Internet with the Flip pocket video cameras, the Kodak zi6, and the multitude of other video cameras that will fit in your front pocket and still shoot pretty decent videos. Add to this group the iPhone 3GS and the Nokia N95, and now you don’t even have to carry around anything other than your phone and still get footage to upload.


So if anyone is pointing a cell phone in your direction and you’re looking like a hot mess, you can guess which site you’ll be starring on.

PHILL BOOGIE'S TAKE:


Last semester, I conducted a lecture on resume writing. I asked students to submit resumes for a summer internship program. Granted, I didn’t expect the freshman that I was teaching to have extensive experience, but I wanted to see how they would represent themselves. I’ve noticed that for many young people, the line between appropriate and inappropriate behavior has blurred.


Most of the resumes and cover letters were good. They all had the same basic work experience an average teenager would have. The one problem with many of the resumes was the email address. “BrownShugah” may not be the email handle you’d want place on top of your resume. I understand the students not being conscious of that faux pas. They live in a time when people will document just about anything and upload it to the internet for the whole world to see. They are part of the YouTube generation.


Since YouTube exploded on to the scene with its social networking built around user-generated video, we’ve seen dozens of similar sites try to duplicate their success. Most people assume that user-generated equals silly, inappropriate, or mostly useless material. It can mean those things, but it can also be used to exchange ideas and help further the use of technology.
Recently, I have begun to explore new ways to showcase and promote creative projects. YouTube is the first place one might consider, but there are others, most notably Vimeo, that cater to those who might be a bit more serious about their content. In some ways, I’d like my students to be more “Vimeo,” than “YouTube.”


Sure, YouTube is an incredible place to find a variety of content, but as you click through many of the videos, you can feel civility coming to a slow death. Some of the content is equal to “ America ’s Funniest Home Videos” getting strung out on meth and living in an alley in downtown San Francisco . It’s a free fall and sadly, we’re nowhere near the bottom.
I believe that people are finally realizing the impact that their online lives have on their real lives. Because of that, cyberspace is beginning to develop “neighborhoods” just like the physical world. Vimeo and YouTube are two different “neighborhoods.” The more we continue to integrate our technology, the more time we’ll spend online. We’ll have to develop a similar consciousness about “neighborhoods” we live in and frequent off and on line.