WonderHowTo aggregates and curates a large database of instructional videos from all over the Internet. It employs a number of editors who search the web for good how-to videos and then categorize them into 36 vertical categories. Thanks to this editorial process, the quality of these how-to videos featured on WonderHowTo is surprisingly high and topics range from Spanish pronunciation to surviving nuclear blasts. One of the most interesting features of WonderHowTo is its recently launched 'Related How-To Videos' sidebar for Firefox.
The sidebar will display how-to videos on WonderHowTo that relate to whatever you are currently looking at in the main browser window. While you are looking at buying a video console on Amazon, for example, the sidebar will offer you videos on how to set it up or how to configure parental controls. In our tests, the suggested videos generally turned out to be highly relevant, but, as is to be expected, sometimes the videos had very little relation to what were looking at.
One nice feature of the sidebar is that it also displays the ratings that users on the main site have given a video. You can also switch the view in the sidebar from the related videos to the most recent and most popular videos on the site, though unless you just want to entertain yourself by learning a random skill, this is not necessarily that useful.
Video how-to sites have steadily grown in popularity, with the likes of ExpertVillage, 5min.com, and Howcast all vying for potential viewers. The growth of this market has also given rise to a number of aggregators, including WonderHowTo itself and its direct competitor, FindHow.
Because users on these sites are clearly already highly engaged with a certain topic, advertisers are very interested in reaching these folks, which makes it relatively easy and profitable to monetize this kind of content. Somebody trying to learn how to find cheap flights on the Internet is, for example, quite likely to react to a JetBlue ad that pops up in the video player on Howcast.
As the competition among how-to video sites growths, all the different players are looking for different ways to differentiate themselves through better video players, widgets, or simply by having better content. For WonderHowTo, the sidebar is a great feature that will surely drive a lot of new users to the site.
Comments
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Which is why I think About.com is a pretty good asset. Who says how-to's have to be videos either? Text can be more effective, and are equally indicative of user-intent.
Posted by: Q dub
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August 13, 2008 2:35 PM
What a great idea! Only problem is you have to signup for firfox's site to download it. Maybe that's temporary?
Posted by: Janise Murphy | August 13, 2008 3:10 PM
Janise - to download the extension, you need to sign up with Mozilla because the developers (or Mozilla?) have deemed the plugin 'experimental' - I'm sure as more people test the plugin, they will take this restriction away
Posted by: Frederic Lardinois | August 13, 2008 3:19 PM
www.graspr.com is another company with instructional videos. But what sets them apart is their remixing studio and syndication model. Apparently, anyone can embed the Graspr badge and make money from referrals. It just seems like a good deal for anyone involved. People who post videos can enhance them with the cool tools Graspr offers and viewers have an improved learning experience because of features such as "notes" and "scenes."
In short, it emphasizes the importance of a network in learning. Check it out!
Posted by: Cady | August 13, 2008 4:06 PM
Honestly, there's no difference between any of these how-to aggregaters...at the end of the day, every single video (every last one) can be already found on YouTube. The only ones that can sufficiently differentiate themselves are those that produce their own content. The three biggest and best are ExpertVillage, MonkeySee and VideoJug. Personally, I prefer http://www.monkeysee.com because all their stuff is shot in high-def, but VideoJug has some humorous videos. Only problem is they use actors instead of experts.
Either way, these guys will dominate the space once the aggregators cancel each other out.
Posted by: Matt | August 13, 2008 6:54 PM
Woaww, this is such a great application.
Posted by: MGA | August 15, 2008 11:38 AM