Metacafe has always been about you - our vibrant community of talented video producers and discerning viewers. More than 25 million people around the world now visit Metacafe each month (that's a lot!). Many of you have told us that you keep coming back because you know you can always find something entertaining - and you can find it quickly. But you may not realize what a big role you play in defining the Metacafe experience of less clutter, more entertainment. So here's how you can continue to power our site:
* You conduct the auditions - Metacafe has a pool of 80,000 volunteer reviewers who take a first look at the thousands of videos submitted to the site each day. Not only do reviewers filter out inappropriate or uninteresting videos, but they also ensure that every video gets a chance to be seen and reviewed (an audition!) The more reviewers are entertained by a video, the faster it will get exposed to the larger audience. Learn about becoming a reviewer.
* You help us find the best - Almost every video site asks viewers to rate videos. But did you know that only 1 out of 100 viewers actually does it? At Metacafe, we work hard to figure out what the other 99% of viewers think. We consider dozens of factors that tell us just how entertaining a video really is. In addition to the star ratings, we look at how much of a video most people watch, how many forwarded it to friends, how many watch it more than once, and many other behavioral indicators. All this adds up to a video's VideoRank™, which is the 3-digit number you see above every video.
* You choose what gets featured - We use a video's VideoRank™ to determine where it appears on the site - with the highest-ranked showing up on the top pages, as 'recommended' videos, or in the section that pops up after you watch a video. In this way, we expose the most popular videos and make it easy for viewers to find those they're most likely to enjoy.
* You decide the rewards - The exposure these top-ranked videos receive helps propel them into our Producer RewardsTM program, which is open to all creators of original content. This equal opportunity system gives every producer a shot, and it's your positive reactions that reward their best work. Thousands of videos are earning money on Metacafe, and 12 producers have each made more than $10,000 since we launched the program last fall.
Here's a video from one of our producers, Dane Boedigheimer, that provides a little more (entertaining) insight: http://www.metacafe.com/watch/735438/metac..._entertainment/.
Bottom line, we just think that every video deserves the opportunity to be seen, and we make sure each viewer's opinion is heard. It's entertainment - powered by people. It's what we stand for. It's what we do. It's something you'll be seeing more of in the weeks and months to come. Here's to you!