In just one year the number of video posts per person has increased by 75pc worldwide and 94pc in the US, Facebook has reported. The social network now rivals YouTube as the go-to place to discover video.
We are now in an era where video is emerging as people’s preferred way of communicating via social media post, perhaps spurred on by phenomena like the Ice Bucket Challenge of last summer.
Globally, Facebook says the amount of video from people and brands in News Feed has increased 3.6x year-over-year.
Since June last year Facebook says that it has averaged more than 1bn video views every day.
On average, more than 50pc of people who came back to Facebook in the US every day watched at least one video a day and 76pc of people in the US say they use Facebook to discover the videos they watch on the social network.
The hidden narrative here is that Facebook is closing in on YouTube as a place to view and enjoy video.
According to a report in Marketing Land, in August Facebook surpassed YouTube for video views on desktop for the first time, delivering nearly a billion more video views than YouTube that month.
A key contributor to this is the addition of auto-play and a change in Facebook’s algorithm last year that served up more relevant and timely video content in people’s news feeds.
How to be a video star on Facebook
Facebook is keen to take advantage of this turn of events and wants content creators from individuals to journalists and brands to sharpen up their act when it comes to creating compelling video material.
It provided two examples including videos created by Time magazine and Taylor Swift that have soared in popularity on the social network.
Facebook has created Video Insights tools to help content creators understand what people enjoy seeing and what works.
“The most important thing to remember when creating video for Facebook is that it will be a part of News Feed,” the social network recommended.
“As a creator, you should be conscious that people will discover your video in News Feed next to a photo from a friend or a status update from a relative. Your video needs to fit in, and it needs to be something that your audience will want to watch and share.
“With the launch of auto-play and the surge in mobile use, it’s also important to focus on posting videos that grab people from the first frame of video.
“Shorter, timely video content tends to do well in News Feed. Keep in mind that auto-play videos play silently in News Feed until someone taps to hear sound, so videos that catch people’s attention even without sound often find success,” Facebook said.
Social video image via Shutterstock
