When it comes to sharing videos online, there are literally hundreds of sites to choose from. Knowing which one is right for you begins with knowing your style, your audience and -- most importantly -- your biggest goal.

Many video sharers are simply expressing their creativity or perspective and hoping to be seen. Others are amateurs hoping to make cash. Then there are aspiring auteurs hoping to find an audience for their work. There is no single site that will help these three different groups. So let's place video creators/sharers into some common segments, and identify which sites may best fit their needs.

I Want Community

If you want to share your point of view, engage in community and make friends, then you belong on YouTube or MySpace. Neither of these sites shares advertising revenue with creators, but they're quite popular and provide unsurpassed tools that foster loyal communities. With the exception of select "online video stars," most videos at YouTube will get lost due to the sheer number of videos competing for attention. In fact YouTube remains the first or second most-visited site, but the viewer/content ratio is so low it's hard to surpass a few hundred views per video without "cheating."

I Want Money

If you have short video clips and seek revenue, then you want your content on Revver and Metacafe. I've made about $3,000 on each site because they share advertising revenue. Revver splits ad revenue (based on clicks of an ad following the video) and Metacafe offers creators $5 per 1,000 views (if the content qualifies for "producer rewards").

Making money on your videos requires more than making videos people like to watch and share. You've got to market your own work and not count on the site to deliver views. A video that gets prominence on Metacafe can easily surpass $1,000. But many will flounder. Likewise, submitting to Revver isn't enough. Revver is a "Visa" of the online video space, so you'll still need to find sites that can feature your Rev-tagged video. Several recent additions to the "ad sharing" field include Blip.TV, LuLu and Brightcove.

Few sites require exlusive arrangements, but some do retain rights to sell your content for upstream/downstream licensing. If your content is good enough to potentially syndicate yourself, you'll want to read the agreements carefully so that you have the right to remove the video or restrict access from the website's partners, customers or new parent company.

I Want Views and Fame

If you are primarily after exposure, you belong on the second-tier sites. These include Google Video, Yahoo Video, and AOL Uncut. All three of these sites take any (appropriate and copyrighted) amateur content, and they deliver views. Since there is far less competition on these sites, your odds of being seen and featured are exponentially higher than YouTube. None of the sites yet share advertising revenue, but they provide exposure. Your feedback will be limited since AOL and Google Video viewers don't tend to comment frequently. However a frequently-viewed video on Yahoo will receive a fair amount of feedback.

I Want a Distribution Tool

If you have your own audience and simply want to stream videos via your site or blog, then you absolutely want to use Revver, Brightcove, Metacafe or Blip. These four sites facilitate the sharing of your videos, and there's no good reason to pay your own hosting fees and miss out on the additional revenue these sites provide. Revver will provide you a 20% affiliate fee on the videos. So, for instance, when people click the ad on my videos featured on my CubeBreak site, I make 20% of the ad revenue before Revver and the creator split the rest. If it's my video, I profit as the creator and affiliate.

I Want to Release My Movie

I urge filmmakers to promote their films using trailers, teasers or clips, and to submit them to any prominent online video website that takes submissions. Ensure that each clip ends with a URL for the film website, and then stream all or parts of the video using Revver, Brightcove, Metacafe or Blip. Brightcove is partnering with AOL to provide the ability to charge for the video. Google Video also offers this functionality. Who needs theaters and DVD copies?

There are many more video sites, and the landscape is changing every few weeks. But each of the sites have disctinct business models and audiences. For example, a clip of my kids may do well on Yahoo but poorly on YouTube or Metacafe. The Metacafe/YouTube audiences tend to look for edgier content, and the featured Revver videos tend to be more artistic. It's easy to see what audience is frequenting a particular site by watching the most popular videos. If the most-viewed video is two women bitch slapping each other, your video of interpretive dance might not do so well.