Share your videos online

Video is an extremely effective way to communicate with others--whether the video is a demo of your startup's new product, a video blog of your opinions on the latest iPod, or just footage from your daughter's birthday party for the grandparents who couldn't make the trip.

But how can you easily share your video with the world once it's ready? Even if you have your own Web site, those large files require lots of storage and bandwidth. So why not let someone else do the hard work for you?

Sharing is good

Sharing your videos on sites such as YouTube offers more advantages than hosting your own videos.

Low Cost or Free Providing sufficient server space and bandwidth for every user who downloads large video files can be expensive. Most video-sharing sites pick up the entire tab, and even do the encoding work for you (saving you from having to buy video-encoding software).

Built-In Audience If you post a video to your own Web site, only people who already visit the site and those to whom you send the link might watch it. In comparison, many video-sharing sites will promote related videos together, so your video can catch the attention of people browsing. And most sites let viewers subscribe to your videos and receive an alert when you add a new one.

Compatibility A lot of video-sharing sites encode video in Flash format, which almost all Web browsers support by default. The primarily photo-oriented site SmugMug streams video in H.264 format, which iPhone and iPod touch users can access--expanding your reach that much further.

Worry-Free If your video suddenly becomes as popular as OKGo's "Here It Goes Again" (performed on treadmills), you don't want to be hosting that file on your own Web server. Heavy viewing greatly strains your site and can even bring the whole thing down--not to mention draw the ire of your ISP or Web hosting service. Even if you're not operating your own server, you can run into monthly bandwidth-usage limits. Video-sharing sites balance the load and handle the traffic for you.

Drawbacks To get all these wonderful features, however, you must give up something--and that's usually control. Many video players from these sites are branded with the logo of the sharing site. And you never know what kind of related videos will be promoted on the same page as your video. Sites such as Vimeo offer a family-friendly viewing option, so an inappropriate link won't show up on your video's page. Still, your video may end up grouped with videos you don't want it to be associated with.

Vimeo: For special options, such as 1,280-by-720 high definition video, you're limited to a few video-sharing sites, like Vimeo. The features you get also vary greatly from site to site. Size restrictions are a big drawback on some sites. MySpace, Yahoo Video, You-Tube, and others limit each file to 100MB, roughly ten minutes at 640-by-480-pixel resolution. Other sites such as Google Video and Vimeo impose no size limits. And some sites, such as blip.tv, aren't as tolerant of video commercials.

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