metacafe.com
There's no doubt that the internet is a great resource for finding ridiculous, funny, inspiring, or otherwise entertaining videos. Whether we're looking for hilarious cats knocking things off tables, people trying to do backflips and failing miserably, or adorable babies trying their first sour foods, we're sure to find something crazy and hilarious to share with our friends.
Recently, YouTube has become a favored platform for many people to upload and share their videos. It all started back in the day with YouTube, but now it's a much more popular site than ever before.
For a long time, it was generally considered doubtful whether or not people could make a living from monetizing their YouTube channels. However, as recent as recently as a few years ago, most people would have said this was impossible. But now, with the advent of various types of video content that can be monetized, it's clear that plenty of people are able to make a decent living from their online presence.
That being said, while YouTube has definitely had its pros and cons, it still remains one of the most popular platforms for sharing videos with the world. However, there are some downsides to its rise too--for example, how obnoxious YouTube has become with advertising. It started adding more ads before videos gradually until now: you can barely watch anything on YouTube anymore because there are so many ads mixed in with content.
So, what can a viral video lover do to ensure they don't miss out on any great YouTube content? Well, as YouTube has now completely sold out, there are now only a few other viable options for video sharing. So many people have been looking for an alternative to YouTube that some people have even suggested uploading normal family-friendly videos to Porn Hub!
Before resigning to that extreme alternative, I ask you to consider one of the many other video sharing websites that exist, which don't require our fun viral videos to appear alongside millions of NSFW clips. Sites like Daily Motion or the site we will be looking at today, Meta Café might just be the next best thing now that YouTube has become one giant streaming commercial feed.
If you've never heard of Meta Café, now is the time to get acquainted with the free website. It has countless potential viral videos, allows users to upload content of their own, and even offers image galleries - all of which are easily shared to social media, so you'll never miss a laugh or a gasp.
History
Meta Café seems to have lost some of its popularity in recent years. However, it is still an important website that cannot be ignored. As of March 2011, the video streaming platform had attracted 13 million unique monthly users in the United States alone. Additionally, Meta Café's global reach was that of 40 million unique monthly users at its peak. These numbers are very impressive in the world of online video streaming sites.
Meta Café was founded by entrepreneurs Eyal Hertzog and Arik Czerniak in Tel Aviv. They raised a sizable investment from Benchmark Capital of $3 million in 2006, and relocated their headquarters to Palo Alto, California in September of that year. Meta Café is the third-largest video streaming site in the world.
Also in 2006, Meta Café announced that they would begin paying content producers. This program worked by rewarding videos that were viewed at least 20,000 times and did not violate copyright laws or Meta Café community standards. For every 1,000 views generated in the US, a video received $50.
Although this program helped a few people make a decent amount of money for a few years, it was curtailed towards the end of 2008 and was ended altogether due to the company's lack of profitability. This also likely had to do with a leadership change that occurred around the same time.
Erick Hachenburg, former EA executive, was briefly CEO of Meta Café in 2007. However, by 2011 he had left his post and was acquired by a digital talent agency called The Collective. No details surrounding the acquisition were released, but rumor has it that the total amount paid was far less than the amount that had been invested into Meta Café up to that point.
Design
Meta Café, it seems (to me), doesn't look entirely unlike YouTube in terms of design. Sure, the site's theme is different--with blue pops of color against a white background instead of YouTube's iconic red and white theme. But in terms of the way the site is laid out...the influence is clear.
On the top of the page, there's a search bar so you can type in whatever keywords you want. And to the left of that, there's a dropdown hamburger menu where users can browse everything the site has to offer - either by Home, Trending, Popular, or Latest; or by category (such as art, animation, cooking, music, entertainment, news, sports, video games, pets, etc). In the middle of the page is a bunch of featured videos to browse through.
Once you click into a video, I found the design shortcomings of Meta Café to be apparent. Video pages are unnecessarily cluttered, if you ask me, and make it hard to seamlessly navigate the site from one video to the next. The margins, for example, are jampacked with content ? ads, related videos, videos you might like, and recommended channels. They are trying to cram too much in too small of a space and it comes off as sloppy and distracting.
Content
Meta Café is a place where you can find viral-worthy videos, share meme-ready galleries, and see low-quality videos.
I don't think the videos are very good at all. They're way too short and not very interesting. I would describe them as being like clickbait because they are sensationalized and low quality.
Desktop and Mobile Experience
Although there is no Meta Café app, I do like the site. It is well-optimized for mobile browsers and function just as well on my laptop as it does on my smartphone or tablet. So there's nothing to worry about on that front. Of course, an app would be better but hey, I'll take what I can get.
Pricing and Plans
Meta Café is a free resource that contains a lot of ads. However, this downside is that it is free to use and upload videos.
Suggestions that I have for Meta Café
Can you please calm down with the ads? I think it's definitely over the top. Honestly, YouTube is better on this front. And that's really saying something. I'd also like to see Meta Café release an app one of these days. Perhaps a premium version of the site could act as a counterweight so that they don't rely too heavily on ad revenue.
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