In the past six months, I must have gotten pitched with a half dozen travel video sharing sites over at Geeky Traveller. They all did more or less the same thing, and they were all battling YouTube for a chunk of the video action.
The other day, James sent me the cleverly named Yaaway (a play, of course, on a Hebrew name for God). I gather that they still haven’t officially launched, but here are some initial impressions:
- Every video is reasonably well produced, and makes use (too much use, actually) of cuts, camera moves and video effects. They don’t look like the standard grainy YouTube video–they’re going beyond the static, unedited dude talking into a webcam. I assume all of this is seeded content.
- There’s no indication of who’s behind Yaaway. I can’t even determine where they’re located or the denomination of the site creators. At least one of the videos I watched is shot in Vancouver, so they may be local.
- They’re not shy about the proselytizing. I found this video a little uncomfortable, as this former Muslim describes how he came to Christianity.
- There are no user feedback mechanisms in place. I trust they’ll fix this before launch.
I started wondering how many such sites there were, and (courtesy of BlogMinistry) found three more: GodTube (“Broadcast Him”), Jesus Clips (his toenails?) and iQuestions (somebody will answer for that name in the hereafter). GodTube and Jesus Clips both emulate YouTube’s functionality. The former seems to be the big player in the space, while the latter features some downright scary stuff.
In truth, the whole thing could be a well-devised prank. The top viewed video on GodTube is farcical in its argument against atheism. On the other hand, these Apple parodies aren’t bad.
iQuestions is the most liberal of the sites, as far as I can figure. They’ve got a whole intimacy section (get your questions answered by old white dudes in sweaters!) that is, as these things go, fairly provocative.
I imagine that there are dozens of emerging video sharing categories. There are also regional video silos, like Video.ca. What else have you seen?
DarrenBarefoot.com 
GodTube and Jesus clips are both using the same engine to display their content. Although they are both great ideas you can tell there hasn’t been a lot of thought in the way their users are to create content and it lack purpose.
This is why I prefer Yaaway, although they are coming later in June they know that their site is going to have to be different and have a focus, one which is encouraging people to know Jesus. I am glad there is a church behind the project.
New Tee Vee also has an interesting post on God Tube this morning (coming to my reader 3 hours after yours, Darren):)
http://newteevee.com/2007/03/23/friday-vid-picks-godtube/
..JewTube anyone? (No pun/slur intended.)
Aren’t you supposed to avoid saying Yaaway? Or is that just G*d?
There is also zigvid. It is a Christian friendly video site, with a unique look (not a straight youtube copy). And it’s less evangelical than godtube. More along the lines of family-friendly.
Here is a shameless plug. 🙂
http://www.TheJesusTV.com
“They’re not shy about the proselytizing. I found this video a little uncomfortable, as this former Muslim describes how he came to Christianity. ”
If you don’t find it uncomfortable, I would question why? I think his testimony hits home to many people. They can easily relate to his struggle to come to terms with Christianity. There’s something within all of us than yearns for the truth. That’s not always comfortable. I think the the video was pretty good, although some of the acting was kind of cheesy, but the message was clear.
Hi
Here is another one which you missed http://www.ultimatetube.com.