To take a look at some of the differences in online video sites, I looked at JibJab, eBaum’s World, and YouTube. I chose these because I wanted to look at a mainstream site (YouTube) and see how that compares and contrasts with two sites that may not be as well-known.
JibJab was the first site that I checked out. This site uses Flash technology to host cartoons; most notably, JibJab is well-known for its political cartoons. JibJab creates much of its own content by making cartoons. The cartoon that “put it on the map” was “This Land.” The song was a parody of the classic song “This Land is Your Land.” The song was sung by the caricatures of John Kerry and President Bush. The video was showed on the “Tonight Show with Jay Leno” and JibJab was suddenly known across the country. Although JibJab’s main focus is on satirizing big business and politics, it also has a couple other aspects to it. They have a “JokeBox,” which functions as the site’s social network. People don’t so much connect with each other through communication and meeting or “friending” people. Instead, JokeBox is a way for users to post and view others’ texts, pictures, and videos. Besides satirizing big business and politics, JibJab has some original cartoons of other things. Their main objective, they say, is to make their viewers laugh. As far as business, the site is nice because there are no advertisements. JibJab makes their money differently. They sell licensed merchandise such as DVDs, t-shirts, and coffee mugs. In addition, they allow users to send personalized videos to others with messages. These personalized videos and messages are paid by using credits. These credits cost money and are paid for through user accounts.
eBaum’s World is very different in nature from JibJab. The only similarity I could find between this site and the previously mentioned JibJab was that the idea behind the videos is to make people laugh. There is no original content that is made from the eBaum’s World people. All the content is uploaded from the users. Also, unlike JibJab, there are more items than videos to watch, pictures to see, or jokes to read. The site allows for videos, mp3s, flash animations, and flash games. eBaum’s World allows users to upload flash games that they have created. The users of eBaum’s World also have the ability to communicate in different forums. The way that eBaum’s World makes money is also different than the way JibJab does. While JibJab sells merchandise, eBaum’s World features many ads. An individual cannot look at an eBaum’s page without seeing a lot of ads. These ads can be anything from dating services to student loans.
The last site that I checked out was the very well-known YouTube. YouTube uses Macromedia Flash Player to show user’s videos. Unlike JibJab, it has no original content on it. All the content on YouTube is created by its users. The purpose of the site is whatever the users want it to be. In other words, it is up to the users to decide what the topics of the videos will be. The videos can be comedic, informative, or some other type of entertainment. YouTube features a great social networking aspect. Everyone that is a user has his or her own user page. There are also blogs that YouTubers can participate in. Recently, YouTube has been caught up in intellectual property violations. Viacom has been seeking payment for users who upload videos on YouTube that have Viacom’s original material on it. YouTube has complied with all takedown notices filed by copyright owners of videos on YouTube. Perhaps the reason that it has only been YouTube that has come under a lot of scrutiny for violating intellectual property laws is that it was recently bought by Google, a very large corporation. As far as making money, YouTube does so through ads, but do not have an overwhelming number. Instead, there are just one or two small ads on the side.
All of the sites that I looked at were unique. However, I believe that there is no right or wrong way to run these video sites. Each must be run in its own unique way so it can better cater to its audience.