When we first reviewed Mefeedia, a video search engine and discovery service, we were somewhat critical of its user interface, but also rated it as one of the best media search engines on the Internet. Today, Mefeedia relaunched with an updated user interface and the ability to search for free, full-length streaming movies. Mefeedia also announced that it is seeing steady growth, with 4.9 million unique visitors in September and 6 million in October.
Features and User Interface
In our earlier review, we pointed out that Meefedia’s interface left much to be desired. The new version could still use some cosmetic updates, but it is already more usable than the first version. In March, we complained that there were very few logical connections between different parts of the site. Thanks to a stronger focus on channel browsing in this new version, this problem has now been remedied.
One feature we especially like on Mefeedia is the ability to import your subscriptions from YouTube, Vimeo, Blip, DailyMotion, and Hulu to your Mefeedia account. This way, you can indeed use Mefeedia as your one-stop shop for online video content.
Movie Channel
Mefeedia’s new movie channel aggregates content from Hulu, Crackle, Archive.org, and others. The selection of movies in this channel is obviously limited by the content on these other sites, and most of the full-length movies seem to come from Hulu. For now, there are very few interesting movies in this channel, but once the movie studios decide to license more full-length films for online streaming, this channel will surely become more exciting.
Competition
While YouTube is surely the first stop for many users, this does exclude a lot of good content on other sites like Vimeo or DailyMotion. In March, we already considered Mefeedia to be one of the best media search engines on the net. While Mefeedia’s competitors like Blinkx or Truveo might offer more features, Mefeedia’s focus on content and the ability to aggregate your subscriptions from other services still gives it an edge over those services.
