YouTube is a feature-rich website—so feature-rich, in fact, that it's sometimes difficult to find everything that there is to be found. This has led to a variety of third-party tools and services, all designed to help you get even more out of YouTube than you can from the basic site.
To me, one of the most annoying things about YouTube is finding the best content. There's a lot of chaff out there among the wheat, and it's often hard to separate one from the other.
To that end, several websites have been created to index YouTube content. These sites organize YouTube videos by various criteria—typically by popularity or buzzworthiness.
The most popular of these YouTube index sites include
Figure 15.1. Browse YouTube videos by category at IndexTube.
Figure 15.2. View the Web's most-blogged-about videos at Viral Video Chart.
Figure 15.3. View a "coverpop" of YouTube's top-rated videos at YouTube Top-Rated.
Then there are the utilities and sites that help you automate various YouTube operations. These include
Figure 15.4. Create photo slideshow videos with the MemoriesOnWeb program.
Want to cheat your way to higher page views for your YouTube videos? Then check out YouCheater ($10, cheatyoutube.awardspace.com), a software program that purports to generate up to 9,700 fake views per hour. Use your best judgment before purchasing.
Finally, it's worth noting that although YouTube is the largest video sharing site on the Web, it isn't the only one. Several other sites let users upload and view videos at no charge, just like YouTube. Here are some of the more popular of these alternative video sharing sites:
Figure 15.5. YouTube's sister site, Google Video.
Figure 15.6. YouTube's highest-tech competitor, Joost.
Some industry analysts think that Joost will become YouTube's primary competitor, especially as several media companies have signed content distribution agreements with the site—while simultaneously pulling their videos from YouTube.
Figure 15.7. vMIX, one of many similar video sharing sites.
Looking to view and share adult videos online? Then check out PornoTube (www.pornotube.com) and XTube (www.xtube.com), two X-rated video sharing sites.
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