Facebook has been actively focusing on videos in the past few weeks and is trying to compete with Google’s YouTube.
Earlier, the company rolled out specific features to promote video content to users, including ‘Auto Play’ when users scroll through feeds and the ability to minimize videos into a thumbnail so they could continue browsing without hindrance.
The latest update is focused on allowing video publishers to customize their future uploads in more ways. One of them is the improved video upload system which is now more intuitive and comes with a whole lot of editing tools.
Users can choose to create “Secret Videos” which will be uploaded to Facebook servers but will not be accessible in the news feed. You can watch those videos only if you have the direct URL. Publishers who like to share sensitive videos can choose to keep them secret and share the URLs to the select community through Facebook messages, Twitter or other social media websites.
The second important feature is the ability to upload a video but prohibit it from being embedded in third party websites without special permission. It helps immensely in keeping copyrighted content safe and stopping others from sharing those videos to make revenue out of it.
Better Customization Tools
When the new update for Facebook rolls out, publishers will notice a lot of customization options available in the upload page. As a publisher, you will have complete control over the content and restrict underage children from viewing it. Videos can now have an expiry date after which it will be deleted from the website. You can also choose to publish them directly to the videos tab and skip newsfeed.
Customization options are plenty now as it facilitates you to either go for a suggested thumbnail or pick your own, when uploading the video. To make it easier for users searching for relevant content, you can now assign categories your videos. The available choices include entertainment, how to videos, news among others. The tags are expected to help content go viral and reach the target audience.
A brand new video library column has been added by Facebook which makes it much easier for page owners to manage the list of videos uploaded earlier. You can now edit the metadata of the content, its thumbnail and subtitles. Videos can be found using its title, description or category.
Facebook confirmed that the updates will roll out in phases to users around the globe.
