When you review video sharing websites, YouTube naturally comes to the top. YouTube wasn’t the first video share site, but it has become the best video sharing site through a clever mix of functionality and community. That’s why YouTube received the “TopTenREVIEWS Gold Award” in our review of Video Share Websites.
YouTube isn’t just an American favorite; it’s popular throughout the world. At the time this review was written, YouTube was garnering nearly 20 percent of all global traffic on the internet. Its popularity is just one clue that YouTube is the best video sharing site out there.
In fact, YouTube’s take on video sharing, creating a community, has actually influenced the way that most other video sharing sites work. The best part about YouTube is being able to watch videos, any video, without being a member, but the real strength of YouTube is the community members that interact, comment, and post videos for specific interests. It’s possible to find a video on YouTube for any interest, occupation, hobby or pastime, along with a lot of other videos that anybody can love.
Perhaps the most telling effect of YouTube’s video sharing formula is the fact that YouTube has gone from being the star to creating stars. Chances are good that you’ve heard of at least one of the following: LonelyGirl15, Chocolate Rain, Chris “Leave Britney Alone” Crocker, Lisa Nova, Charlie Bit Me, Evolution of Dance, Lerroooooy Jenkins, David Elswhere, Star Wars Kid, Numa Numa Man, Dramatic Look Gopher. All of these videos or people were made famous because of YouTube.
Now presidential candidates use YouTube as a way to give their debates and speeches a national audience, just because YouTube has such a broad user base.
But YouTube became so big because it was the first site to make video sharing easy, and it still makes it easy with new innovations and handy features. Combine that with one of the biggest video libraries in the world and it’s easy to see why YouTube is the best.
If you are looking for ways to make your own videos, check out our rankings of the best camcorders and the best multimedia cell phones.
YouTube does well by offering all the amenities that an audience member needs because the vast majority of people on the site are not contributors, simply spectators. A smart search function makes it easy to identify the video you are looking for, and a category search or other advanced search functions allow you to narrow your search even further. Ratings, descriptions and screenshot previews also make it easier to identify the video you are looking for.
YouTube has a well-established system for collecting and displaying user comments. You must have an account with YouTube to post ratings or comments on any videos, but you don’t necessarily have to be a contributor. The comments system is self-regulated by all the YouTube users, too. If a comment is antagonistic, spam or misinforming, YouTube users can vote down the comment so that it does not show up. Other useful comments can also be voted up. While this power can be abused by a group of like-minded individuals who want to marginalize a specific user, for the most part this comment rating system is very useful at weeding out useless, angry or commercial comments.
YouTube has some great customizable features too. There are the obvious ones, like volume and screen size, but then there are much better ones, like the ability to create a customized playlist of favorite videos. This makes it possible to consistently enjoy the videos you like the way you like. YouTube even has an RSS Feed which allows you to get immediate updates on new videos by a specific user or in a specific category. This ability to customize your content is what makes YouTube such a fan favorite.
Another key feature that has allowed YouTube to become so big is the ability to embed videos on other sites. This means other websites don’t have to host a video file on their own servers; they can simply import the video from YouTube. This has made it far easier and more efficient to share YouTube videos even if you aren’t on the actual YouTube site.
del.icio.us
Digg
StumbleUpon
Yahoo! My Web
Facebook
Google Bookmarks
ma.gnolia
Newsvine
reddit
Windows Live
Ask & Answer