9 Reasons Why Vimeo Is Officially The Coolest Video Site For Creatives

Here at Social Times we write a lot about YouTube, but I wanted to take just a few minutes out to talk about Vimeo for a change. Vimeo is something of an underdog in the online video scene and (imho) it doesn’t get nearly enough coverage or attention. That’s why, on the tails of an announcement about new Vimeo features this morning, I’ve decided to put together a long overdue post about exactly why Vimeo is an awesome choice for creatives. Before we get to the list, check out the video below to learn a little more about the new features Vimeo has recently added. We’ll get into more details below. And now, without further adieu, eight reasons why Vimeo is officially the coolest video site for creatives! A talking blue deer and tree ghouls? Um…love it! How could you not love a site that has a talking blue deer make its announcements for it? And a talking blue deer that doesn’t want to be turned into a tree ghoul, at that! But in all seriousness, this video represents what Vimeo is all about—it’s an online video site for creative people, run by creative people. Vimeo is quirky, fun and all about quality and this shines through in everything they do, from their design to their video announcements and more. Advanced uploading abilities – pause and resume later There’s nothing more frustrating than having an upload stop and get lost right in the middle, due to a loss of Internet connection or your having to leave one location and bring your computer to another. Vimeo solves this problem with a new feature that lets you pause and resume uploads. Vimeo also lets you upload multiple videos at once, which is nice. Click here to check out a video about the Vimeo uploader. Integration with Dropbox The big news out of Vimeo today is that the video site has integrated with Dropbox. Blake Whitman, VP of Creative Development at Vimeo, explains that "starting today, you can marry your Vimeo and Dropbox accounts to seamlessly upload your video files directly from Dropbox." What does this mean? You don’t have to visit Vimeo at all to upload videos from Dropbox. Any video saved to your auto-upload file will automatically be uploaded to Vimeo. And the best part? "When uploading from Dropbox, you can leave the browser window as soon as you start uploading. No need to babysit a progress bar." You can find out more about this new feature in the Uploading from Dropbox FAQ. Custom thumbnails for all! Earlier this month Vimeo announced that users can now turn any video frame into a thumbnail. This puts them ahead of YouTube on the thumbnail front. Last week YouTube finally expanded custom thumbnails to more partners, but odds are you’ll still have to wait. Note that Vimeo has always offered users the opportunity to upload their own thumbnails (in JPG, GIF or PNG format). The new custom thumbnails feature just makes it all the more easy for creators to find the perfect frame from their video. Nothing beats the Vimeo player It’s pretty much an indisputable fact that the Vimeo player is freaking beautiful. It looks great on the Vimeo site (and even better since they dropped a major redesign back in January) and it looks great embedded on blogs and websites as well. They’ve also got a whole slew of different embed options, so you can customize the text color, size, easily indicate whether or not you want the video to autoplay or loop, decide if you want to include the portrait, title, byline, and more. Additionally, Vimeo Plus users can customize nearly every aspect of the player (more on Vimeo Plus later). Loving, supportive, creative community trumps trolls One of the best things about Vimeo is its community. I won’t say that there are no trolls on Vimeo, but for the most part Vimeoans (is that a thing?) are super supportive of each other and leave great feedback and constructive criticism in the video comments. Plus, there’s no dislike button (just a heart!) so you can feel pretty good about yourself when you see how many people liked your video, without the light saber effect. Vimeo Music Store makes music licensing simple Last September the Vimeo Music Store launched. Through the Music Store, creators can discover and license affordable music, enhance their already existing videos with soundtracks, create custom tracks that fit perfectly with their videos and more. Check out the video below, from the Vimeo Music Store launch. Vimeo Plus users get discounts on production gear and more Prolific creators can benefit from subscribing to Vimeo Plus. Vimeo Plus costs $9.95/month or $59.95/year and subscribers can take advantage of a whole slew of benefits, from priority uploading to more storage space (5GB/week instead of 500MB/week). One of the coolest perks (fittingly called Vimeo Perks) lets Plus members get exclusive discounts on products from B&H, Kessler, Letus and more. Vimeo Video School helps you be a better creator Finally, back in December of 2010, Vimeo Video School launched. Vimeo Video School is a fantastic resource for creators, new and old, to learn how to make the best videos possible. The "school" includes video tutorials on everything from DSLR videography to lighting, editing, and more. I do want to point out that YouTube still has its perks over Vimeo—specifically the ability to monetize videos on YouTube and the fact that YouTube videos tend to perform better view-wise than those on Vimeo, because of the viral nature of the site. Still, Vimeo has a lot of great perks for creators (and there’s nothing saying you can’t or shouldn’t upload your videos to multiple sites for more exposure). Do you prefer Vimeo or YouTube for your online video needs? We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below. Megan O’Neill is the resident web video enthusiast here at Social Times. Megan covers everything from the latest viral videos to online video news and tips, and has a passion for bizarre, original and revolutionary content and ideas.

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9 Reasons Why Vimeo Is Officially The Coolest Video Site For Creatives

Megan O'Neill

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