By Carolanne Hornung, Social Account Coordinator
The world of Facebook is ever-changing. Most recently, Facebook has announced some major changes to their video experience.
First on their list is reverting the auto-off sound. Currently, users have to tap a video in order to hear the sound. The new change means that sound will auto-play as users scroll through their News Feeds. However, this feature can be disabled in a user’s Settings.
There’s already been plenty of blowback on this update, but it’s going to grab users' attention, for better or for worse. Either the users are going to become more engaged in the video when they previously may not have, or they're going to be annoyed. (The latter will probably be the first to turn off the auto-sound feature in the Settings.) The metrics most likely affected by this will be the % of videos watched and the number of clicks to play. Previously with auto-play videos, users had to click the video to hear sound. With auto-sound, users have one less step to complete to watch a video.
Next up, expect to see larger video previews in your News Feed. While playing, videos will take up most of the user’s News Feed, which will encourage more user engagement. Users will also have the ability to minimize a video as it’s playing so they’re free to scroll the News Feed. Most importantly, Android users will be able to keep the video open after the app is closed.
Lastly, Facebook has confirmed that they will soon be rolling out a Facebook video app for TV. This change comes as Facebook tries to expand beyond phone and computer real estate and tap into the television market. Users with an Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, or Samsung Smart TV will be among the first to be able to test the new app. The Video App for TV is trying to encourage users to become more engaged in Facebook's video experience. Facebook is leaning towards enabling a longer, more engaging video experience and trying to compete with services like YouTube. This is probably their way of sticking their foot in the door for live events like sports, as well as trying to break into their own scripted video shows.
What are your thoughts on the new changes to Facebook video? Let us know in the comments!
