The turn from television to online streaming is creating a social scene that resembles a giant living room with a hundred-thousand people watching the same movie. From You Tube to Vimeo to Hulu, to Netflix. Social Media covers a broad spectrum of viewing platforms, and the impact of community is the same no matter where you go.

You Tube

You tube is the iconic symbol for social media videos; from the comments, to the rating systems, to the personalized profile pages. Free content equals free traffic, and has the ability to entertain millions of users simultaneously. Viral videos are the powerhouse behind You Tube; a video of a guy dancing in ‘evolution’ gets more views then Montana has population. Or how about a Doritos loving Seagull, if it’s fun to watch, it has a good chance of going viral.

Vimeo

The Classier online video website, with a hint of creativity and liveliness that just doesn’t come across in the plain ol’ You Tube. Vimeo is a hub for independent film makers, to sports enthusiasts, to viral video junkies. With the ability to stream higher quality videos, Vimeo is pushing the boundries of communication through Hi-definition. Its embedding features are outstanding, and encourage sharing within your community, website or blog.

Hulu

Hulu came out of nowhere and if you visited it back when it was first starting out, you probably thought you had struck gold (at least those without cable television did). With the help of an enourmous community and the ability to rate movies and hold discussions about any desired theme, Hulu is stretching the fabric of watching tv with a buddy, creating a million-plus social of its own. *Rumors are flying around about summer 2010 when Comcast (who bought a large share of NBC/Hulu) might start charging for certain aspects of television streaming service.

Netflix

Netflix jumped into the social back in 2007, when it implemented its user interaction abilities. It is at this time Netflix took center stage in the social media movie-world. Users often find themselves delving into a social without knowing it; Following a certain community of critics that share their same interests. If they give a movie a bad rating and it has negative comments, its probably not worth wasting your time on. It’s like having thousands of friends to seed through the mass collection of digital entertainment and pick the best of the bunch. Movies are a dime a thousand these days, and it’s not worth watching them all.