For the video sharing site analysis assignment I chose three sites that I visited weekly and had a long history of using. I picked the classic political parody JibJab and the adult humor sites Break.com and CollogeHumor.com. All three of these sites are meant to bring entertainment and humor to the viewers. Break.com has especially been targeted to employees of companies. CollegeHumor.com is marketed towards college and high school students. JibJab originally started out as a strictly politically themed sharing site, but has since broadened its categories.

JibJab.com

The JibJab offers four main channels: Sendables, Starring You, Originals, and JokeBox. Sendables has a variety of multimedia, usually animated videos, which users can edit and add content to. JibJab allows users to upload pictures of themselves or people or change the content of the sendable to personalize it in some way. After users create the sendable, they can send by email to a friend. JibJab sendables are supposed to be more hip than eCards. To use this service of the site, users must be registered and have a certain enough of JibJab’s online currency to purchase the sendable. The Starring You channel includes more multimedia that users can customize and personalize. Most of the time, users can upload photos to put in the videos. Afterwards, they can post and share their videos on the site. The Originals channel features the classic political animations that JibJab become so popular to back in the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections. The JokeBox is the part of the website where members of JibJab can upload and comment on videos. JibJab also offers a blog that keeps members posted on what the JibJab team is up too. All of JibJab’s videos are run on a Flash player. JibJab makes it very easy to post these videos to other platforms such as Facebook, MySpace, and many other booking marking services. It even offers the embedded code for its videos. There are no advertisements on the site ; however, there is box on the main page that states CNN as JibJab’s partner. This is how I assume they keep a steady income. The social networking aspect of the site is limited to an avatar, brief description, and statistics on uploading and commenting. There is only one type of membership. This lack of a networking functionality probably keeps the relationship between users distanced. Comments on particular videos are the closest you get to communicating with other members. There is a very detailed privacy policy protects the users from information disclosure by JibJab. JibJab has also copyrighted all of its own content, and anything that is uploaded to the site becomes the property of JibJab Media Inc.

Here is one of JibJab’s classics:

Break.com
Break.com has three main categories: Videos, Games, and Pictures. The Videos main page is broken down into even smaller sections: Latest Video Pick, Daily Buzz, Just Submitted, and Most Viewed. The differences between these videos is popularity or chronological. The Games section has many online games for the user’s pleasure. The Pictures main page has the latest funny pictures. Its sections break down into: All Photos, Girls, Not Safe For Work (NSFW). The category names are pretty much self explanatory. Break.com uses the Adobe Flash player for its videos Break.com have advertisements on every page. This is how they keep their operation going. Break.com have more of a social network like profile page. On their profiles, Members can upload avatars, post information about themselves, post bulletins, and of see the videos and pictures that they have uploaded. Other members of break can also post comments on this profile page. There is also a blogging feature. Members profile s on Break.com encourages networking and communication inside of the Break.com community. There is only one type of members. Members are responsible for any uploaded material. That means members are liable for copyrighted material.

Here is a video from their site:

a very clever beer ad - Watch more free videos

CollegeHumor.com
CollegeHumor offers videos, pictures, articles, CHTV, and of course girls. The Video page is all of the user uploaded content. It is broken down into Recent, Popular, and Hall of Fame. Pictures follow the same format. Articles are contributed by staff members of CollegeHumor or other members from the site. CHTV (CollegeHumor TV) are CollegeHumor’s original videos. CollegeHumor also offers a “Girls” section where cute “college girl’s of the day” are displayed. CollegeHumor.com uses Adobe Flash Player for its videos. There are advertisements on the top banner of the site and also embedded in the site. Along with these advertisements, CollegeHumor has many partners. Registered members can have profile pages, but they only display a brief description, uploaded videos and pictures, posted articles, and statistics about comments. There are three types of members: regular members, staff members, and contributors. All material on CollegeHumor.com is the sole property of their owners (Connected Ventures Technology). All user added content remains under their possession.

Here is a clip from their video section:

All three of the sites have some type of user created or edited video content. Break.com and CollegeHumor.com also have pictures. JibJab focuses more on animated videoed. Of all three, Break.com has the most in-depth and closest functionality to a social network. Intellectual Property rights are pretty much the same across the board on long the lines of posting copy –rights material, but CollegeHumor.com is the only one of the three that allows users to keep ownership rights over posted content. Break.com is the only sharing site that has games that visitors can play. All three of these sites depend on the user community to continuously add new content to the site. This is what makes them so popular.