Will Facebook’s Changes Be a Boon or a Bust for Video?
Facebook Announced a Big Change: How It Can Become a Boon for Live Video
Facebook wants friends and families to interact with one another, and they want to slow down the spread of self-serving posts from political organizations.
According to Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg:
“As we roll this out, you’ll see less public content like posts from businesses, brands, and media. And the public content you see more will be held to the same standard – it should encourage meaningful interactions between people.”
Social Media Examiner’s Mike Stelzner explained:
“Zuckerberg wants people to feel good about using Facebook. This sentiment most likely comes from how the News Feed evolved during the election, people were tuning it out. There’s a competitive threat from other platforms. But no guy on the planet has more data on these types of interactions. Zuckerberg and his team noticed a pattern change and knew something had to shift.”
Live Video and Storytelling
Stelzner adds, “There’s so much value in going to your tribe and having a dialogue. Doing a live show once a week could create conversation. Businesses are scared to go live, but Facebook makes it easy.
“Companies will need to begin doing a lot more story-telling with their videos and content. Think the History or Discovery channel. Think episodic content. People have a big, insatiable appetite for this type of content, and it could drive interaction.”
Hoot Suite’s Take on the change’s effect Facebook Video
Shannon Tien from the social media management platform, Hoot Suite, says, “Videos are still favored under the new algorithm, but live videos will be even more important. In his announcement, Zuckerberg wrote that ‘live videos often lead to discussion among viewers on Facebook—in fact, live videos on average get six times as many interactions as regular videos.’
“This means if you haven’t already invested time and energy into posting live videos on Facebook, you– 100 percent–should do so now. This is one of the few concrete examples of content that will perform well under the new algorithm included in the announcement, so we would all do well to pay attention to it.”
What does this mean for businesses that want to use video?
Ask your viewers to comment on your video? Ask for their opinions. The more engagement you have from friends and followers, the more likely your video will get the exposure you want. Facebook is encouraging interaction among friends. Rather than trying to promote your product or service with a mass-distributed video, target your market to clients, friends and supporters.
Read Facebook’s Official Post About the Change
