Sofie Estolloso Hofmann Designs International

Have you been vlogging? Did you think I made a mistake in spelling that out? Nah! Vlogging stands for video blogging! Vlogging is quite common now a days. You have a lot choices if you want to vlog, for example, Yahoo! Video, Google Video, YouTube and Grouper.

On May 31, 2006, according to Yahoo! search blog, Yahoo! rolled out the new Yahoo! Video, an upgrade from its video search service that introduces more ways to find and share video programming. Now, it includes the ability to upload your videos directly to Yahoo! at Yahoo! Video. Read more at Yahoo! Video team blog.

On October 31, 2005, according to Google, its Google Video was growing so fast that they thought a blog is the best way to showcase some of the great videos that catch their attention. Read more at Google VideoBlog or at the Google Video Discussion Board.

Founded in February 2005, YouTube is probably the most popular one, but Grouper is also becoming known as it is the one which was first introduced at Friendster if you want to upload as well as watch a video in your Friendster account. Lately, Friendster added YouTube too if you want to view a video from Friendster. YouTube originally started as a personal video sharing service, and has grown into an entertainment destination with people watching more than 70 million videos on the site daily. Check out YouTube Blog to keep up to date on all the latest YouTube developments.

Grouper started in 2004 as a Microsoft Windows based application that allowed users to share their personal media within private groups but with the release of the 2.0 version of the Grouper client in December 2005, the focus was refined to sharing video over the web. Read more about Grouper at Wikipedia and Grouper Networks Blog.

I tried uploading a video at Grouper but I deleted it. I used Yahoo! Video and Google Video if I want to feature my own videos in my blogs. I feature videos from YouTube once in a while. I use all of them just to see the difference between these video sharing services.

Of course, each has the features play, stop and volume. What are the other features if the video is being featured from your website? See these pages, Swimming Competition 2006 Announcement (Google Video) and Storm in Weggis (Yahoo! Video) at Weggis.net and Travel to the Philippines (YouTube) at SofieHofmann.com. See and try to compare them.

Let us say, you featured the videos from your blog or website, the size of Yahoo! Video and YouTube is the same, the width is 425 and the height is 350 while Google Video has 400 in width and 326 in height. They will accept videos of any length and size but they will be resized. Naturally if the width of the main column of your blog is less than 425, you might want to consider using Google Video instead of Yahoo! Video or YouTube. You have to consider that if you have a side menu instead of a top menu in your blog, then using YouTube and Yahoo! Video may destroy the look of your blog. You have the option though of just linking the video from your blog instead of featuring it.

If you want to view the video in its original size from your blog, you can do it with Yahoo! Video unlike Google and YouTube, there’s none, only from the main site of Google and YouTube. Google can be viewed in its original size, double size, fit to window, full screen, only if you manipulate it from the main site of Google Video. Whatever you specified from the main Google Video site, that’s the size that will appear on your blog.

If you want to go the main site of each one, Yahoo! Video has a link after you view the video unlike YouTube, once you click the whole screen, you will be automatically redirected to the main site of YouTube. Google Video has a link at the bottom right, but you need to click the logo first and once you see “Go to Google Video”, then you can go to the main site if you click it.

If you want to share the video to your friends directly from the site where the video was featured, YouTube has a share feature through email, and Yahoo! Video can be shared through IM and email. Google Video can be shared from the main Google Video site just like YouTube and Yahoo! Video.

With regards to the time, if the viewer wants to know how long is the video, you will not see it at Yahoo! Video unlike Google Video and YouTube. The viewer will only know how long is the Yahoo! Video after the viewer finished watching the video. But of course, if you are the one who featured the site, you already have an idea how long is the video because it is specified at the main sites of Yahoo! Video, Google Video, YouTube and Grouper, wherever you took the video that you would like to be featured in your site.

How big should the file be? With Google Video, you can upload videos as many as you like even more than 100MB. There are different ways though in uploading videos less than 100MB and more than 100MB. Read “How do I upload videos?” with Google Video. You can upload videos as many as you want with Yahoo! Video but each file needs to be less than 100MB. YouTube has a limit of 100MB and 10 minutes in length per video but there is no length limit for Director accounts.

In what format should the video be? Google Video accept many popular formats, such as AVI, ASF, QuickTime, Windows Media and MPEG formats. Files with file extensions like .avi, .asf, .mov, .wmv, .mpg, .mpeg, .mp4, .ra, .ram, and .mod are all acceptable but currently do not accept Flash files. Read Google Video’s technical requirements and quality guidelines for more information. Yahoo! Video supports the following file types like Windows Media, ASF, QuickTime, MPEG-1 and MPEG-2. YouTube accepts video files in the .avi, .mov, and .mpg file formats. I uploaded a .wmv at YouTube and it was accepted too.

What if you want to keep your video a private one? Yes, you have the option to keep it private or make it available to the public, check it out once you uploaded the video.

Ok, it’s getting long, enough for today. Anyway, these are just some of the features that I would like to mention. If you think that what I didn’t write here are good to mention too, you can write them here. You’re all welcome to do that. Read their FAQs or Help section too. Well, until then and have fun vlogging! Have fun viewing the videos!