Helpful social media - Vodpod

Vodpod (vodpod.com) is a social site centred around the concept of users viewing and collecting videos on the Internet, which they can then post and track on personal profile pages.

Signing up and using Vodpod is completely free, and there are certain advantages to keep in mind when you're thinking about video collection services. Users can interact with each other, even choosing to subscribe to each other as viewers, and all videos posted can be tagged with vital information in order to better appeal to others.

Their developers have listened to their users, and take user feedback into account to continue to improve the service. Vodpod links to nearly any social media service you have, and will even recommend videos and users to you, based on the content you collect and how you tag it.

Vodpod got its start in the spring of 2006 when it was founded by CEO Mark Hall and a squad of talented developers. Testing went smoothly and strongly, and Vodpod was open to the public at the beginning of December of that year.

It also got shining support from WordPress only months after its launch — with full integration, WordPress users now had a means to sidestep the ban on Javascript and any embedded media and post videos from anywhere on the Internet to their blogs. Since then, Vodpod has come to be embraced by all blogging platforms.

How it works
Users post Internet videos they like to their accounts by a number of means — Vodpod makes it very easy to add videos through a series of toolbar buttons, browser extensions and applications on Facebook. Using any of these, posting a video is as easy as clicking on a button marked “Add Video.”

Further, using the Vodpod.com application for iPhone or Android phones allows you to keep up to date with videos posted by users you follow — like a Twitter feed where everything is a video — as well as videos that are the most popular across the network. You can upload videos from your phone directly to your account as well, either recording one on the spot or choosing one you've already shot.

Why it's useful (or not)
Not only will Vodpod make it easy for you to collect and share videos from popular online sources by back-linking to accounts you have — like Youtube, Vimeo and Hulu — but it also fore-links to services like Facebook, Twitter and your blogging tool of choice to broadcast and share your recent additions.

It may not have the most potential when it comes to researching content for any schoolwork you may have — unless you're particular about the content you want to search, like important speeches or news broadcasts on a particular topic.

Do you make films? Above all else, is this fantastic potential to store your own content for quick posting online; with a free account on Vodpod, you could very easily post and broadcast your films across the entire network of users, but also receive detailed statistics and information about how they're being viewed, a very useful feature for those with content to share.