Facebook testing a new feature for videos, looks to take on YouTube
Facebook announced on Tuesday that is testing a new feature that will allow people to go and exclusively discover, watch and share videos that are relevant to them.
This move is looked as a plan to take over the current and undisputed king of online video, YouTube, and aims to get people watch more videos at the leading social networking site.
Facebook is currently “testing a dedicated place on Facebook for people to go when they exclusively want to watch video,” Facebook’s vice president of product management Will Cathcart said in an online post.
“Video has continued to grow on Facebook. It has become an integral part of how people around the world discover, watch and share videos they care about every day.”
It can be accessed by tapping a “Videos” icon at the bottom of the Facebook app on iPhone or in the “Favourites” section on the left-hand side of News Feed on the web.
“We’ll be testing this with a small number of people now, so this isn’t something most
people will see on Facebook right away,” Cathcart wrote. “We look forward to seeing how people use it to discover, watch and share videos with their friends.”
Facebook knows people sometimes want to multitask while they watch videos. “To make this possible, we are testing a way for people to watch a video in a floating screen while simultaneously multitasking on Facebook,” Cathcart added.
In August, Facebook announced that public figures can share live video with their fans via its feature titled Mentions.
In addition to a video feed, Facebook is trying out a picture-in-picture feature that would allow users to watch video content while scrolling through the News Feed, according to Cathcart. Some users will also have the option to save videos for later, accessible via the “Saved” bookmark.
Recently, a suggested videos feature was tested in Facebook’s application for iPhones displays rows of related snippets after someone views a clip from News Feed.
“We’ve now rolled out suggested videos to most people on iPhone globally, and are starting to test ads within the experience,”. Cathcart said.
“We’re pleased with initial results, which show that people who have suggested videos are discovering and watching more new videos,” he added.
“We will be testing this with a small number of people now, so this isn’t something most people will see on Facebook right away. We look forward to seeing how people use it to discover, watch and share videos with their friends,” Cathcart wrote in a blog post on Tuesday.
With almost 1.5 million users and with it now placing emphasis on video, Facebook may quickly become a viable threat to YouTube’s video kingdom once the feature is rolled out.
It is not going to be easy to overtake Youtube in terms of online videos but Facebook has got the potential.
True, Facebook got potential as now it offers quick video feature too in his app which makes it better than youtube app. Both are unique in numerous ways.