Video essays and digital storytelling

Vimeo vs. YouTube

Both video sharing services allow users to sign up and upload videos for free.  Which one you choose depends on personal preference.  To assist you with this, a brief comparison of the services is provided.

YouTube: YouTube definitely has the widest audience of video viewers and is the number one video sharing site on the Web.  Anytime the news refers to a video that's trending, they will often refer to the number of "YouTube views" within a given timeframe as an example of its popularity.  If you're looking to reach the widest audience, this may be the service for you.

Vimeo:  While not as prevalent as YouTube, Vimeo tends to attract more creative and artistic movie makers.  If you're looking to be part of a movie-maker community, then this may be the service for you.  Also a bonus - no advertising to interfere with your masterpiece!

A useful comparison of the pros and cons of Youtube and Vimeo can be found here.  A more detailed comparison of all video hosting services can be found here.

Of course, your assignment may stipulate which hosting service to use.  The information in the YouTube and Vimeo blocks on this page will provide you with detailed information on how to upload your project.

Vimeo

• FAQ Uploading to Vimeo
• Uploading basics
• Video compression guidelines

Privacy settings

There are six (yes six!) options you can set up to determine who sees your video:

1. Anyone - Allow anyone to see the video.
2. Only me - Make this video visible to me and no one else
3. Only people I follow - Make my videos visible only to people I follow on Vimeo
4. Only people I choose - I'll select people with whom I want to share this video (Note: this setting will only work for sharing with other Vimeo members)
5. Only people with a password - Protect this video with a password (Note: you can share password protected videos with non-Vimeo members)
6. Hide this video from Vimeo.com (Plus + PRO only) - I want to post this video on the web but don't want it to be available on Vimeo.com. (This will hide your video on Vimeo.com and remove it from public Albums, Channels, and Groups.)

YouTube

• How to upload videos

Privacy settings

There are three options for providing access to your uploaded video -- Public, Private, and Unlisted. When you upload a video to YouTube, by default it’s set as a “Public” video, which means that anybody can view it, and it can be found in YouTube search results. If you would like to restrict access to a select few (only people in your course for example), consider switching to "Private" or "Unlisted".  Your video will not appear in YouTube search results, and only people with your video link will be able to access it. 

Accessibility

A closed captioning feature is available in YouTube.  The following video will provide you with details.