So, what’s the coolest place to host stuff these days? Free, awesome, and easy as well? That’d be DivShare, a self-funded file hosting site out of Dewey Beach, Delaware which, along with doing the above four, has quickly grown into one of the fastest growing sites on the web with over 100,000 registered users.
The idea is simple: “Upload any file. We host it forever. You share it anywhere.” Their homepage features a simple upload form, which is as simple as selecting a file (any type, format, etc.) and clicking ‘upload.’ Once the file is uploaded, you’re presented with a link (example: here’s mine) and a long list of simple embed codes. Anonymous uploads expire in 7 days, so using their simple registration form below ensures ‘hosting forever.’
You’re probably wondering by now what the catch is. In DivShare’s case, I was extremely happy to find that there is none. DivShare does what is says, and its simplicity exceeds any expectations you’d have with a free file hosting site (yeah, ImageShack!). I’m not sure how they pull it off, but along with simple file hosting, DivShare also offers streaming Flash video and audio. And how do they make money? With their only ‘premium’ service they call ‘Direct,’ which allows users to brand their flash players or turn their blog into a personal YouTube for only $5/month.
Something that also stands out with DivShare and really brings them into the ‘awesome’ category is their integration options. They have a Facebook Application which lets users upload files directly from within Facebook and post it to their profile or share it with their news feed. Additionally, they have a WordPress plugin for bloggers which beats’ WordPress’s own any day. By offering these two simple things, they individually target the two markets they ought to be: a traditional consumer (Facebook) and a prosumer (WordPress).
DivShare simply proves that if you do something right, the users, attraction, and attention will automatically come to you. Personally, I’ve never seen such an example of a ‘done-right’ solution. From step one to ten, they crack it all, and provide a solution that’s so awesome it gets people using it. How they’ll solve the problem of making enough money to pay for the storage/bandwidth and the whole bunch of legal strings attached with the concept seems questionable to me, but if they keep going the way they have, it may indeed become the new way to host files on the net (for the consumer/prosumer at least).
