Facebook's video strategy -- what you need to know

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Michael Kan

Have you noticed more video on your Facebook feed lately?

Unless you've been keeping your eyes shut while browsing the social network, of course you have. We have all known for a while now that Facebook is upping it's video game, but we finally have more details about the social network's strategy. So what does the company have planned?

In IT Blogwatch, we sit back and watch.

So what is happening? Natalie Jarvey has the background:

Facebook has been dabbling in video since 2014, placing a new emphasis on the format last year when it began to fund...video broadcasts from...partners such as BuzzFeed and the New York Times.
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Now, the social network has said that it will pay video producers to create longer, higher quality scripted and unscripted projects...Facebook executives...see this effort as a way to "kickstart the ecosystem" as it builds up its video coffers.

But exactly what form will that take going forward? Michelle Castillo has the details:

Facebook...[will] focus on shorter form content...Short-form includes social content posted for friends, promotional content for brands and celebrities and premium content posted by creators...Zuckerberg said he understands premium content needs to be supported by ads -- and they are coming.

And do we know anything about those ads? And why only shorter content? Nathan McAlone fills us in:

Zuckerberg said...the introduction of mid-roll video ads would take Facebook's video offerings "to the next level," as video creators become able to make real money.
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Zuckerberg said people would "experiment" with longer stuff on Facebook, but it would not be the main event...because mobile viewers, with small-screened smartphones and costly wireless data plans, would still be the anchor of its video business.

Is there anything else we should know about Facebook's video plans? Kurt Wagner has one thing to add:

Facebook is saying...that it doesn't just want to compete with TV. It wants to be your TV...Zuckerberg has never been quite this blunt about the company's...ambitions. The idea of episodic content, stuff that gets people to come back week after week, seems like a key priority.

So what is Facebook going for with this strategy? Queenie Wong has that info:

Facebook's efforts to show more video on the social network could help the tech firm rake in more ad dollars while keeping users on the site for a longer time...In addition to live video, video filters and 360-degree video, the company rolled out a video tab so users could find...content in one place.

So is this why Facebook keeps pushing users to go "Live"? RationalUSofA has one thing to say:

Better than it pushing us to go "dead" in all fairness.

Rebecca Linke is a Senior Associate Editor at Computerworld who writes about social media and personal technology. She also helps manage Computerworld's Facebook and Google+ pages.

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