Facebook updates News Feed to push more relevant videos

By Anuj Sharma - December 15, 2017
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With this new update, videos from Pages that people proactively seek out, by using Search or going directly to a Page for example, will see greater distribution on News Feed, Facebook said in a blog p....

Social media giant Facebook today updated its News Feed ranking which will now push videos that people are proactively seeking out and are coming back to watch them again.

For its 2.1 billion users, Facebook’s News Feed which brings posts from friends and businesses, is the first thing users see whether they are on the app or on the web making it valuable online real estate.

With this new update, videos from Pages that people proactively seek out, by using Search or going directly to a Page for example, will see greater distribution on News Feed, Facebook said in a blog post.

The update will also surface more videos that people consistently return to watch from the same publisher or creator week after week. Engaging videos not only brings people together, but will drive repeat viewership and engagement in the News Feed.

Facebook’s News Feed is most viewed section on the social platform and the company has always tried new ways to improve the Feed experience. In November, the company redesigned its News Feed to show people more stories that will load quickly on mobile and fewer stories that might take longer to load, so they can spend more time reading the stories they find relevant. Users’ can now see where a link will take you before clicking on it.

Facebook is also planning to launch its original video platform “Watch” in India early next year. Watch was first introduced in the US in August this year and is considered YouTube’s competitor. 

Watch acts as a platform for shows on Facebook and will work on mobile, on desktop and laptop, and in Facebook’s TV apps. The personalised platform helps you discover new shows that are organised around what your friends and communities are watching. Shows are made up of episodes — live or recorded — and follow a theme or storyline. To help you keep up with the shows you follow, Watch has a Watchlist so you never miss out on the latest episodes.

And while Facebook’s revenue and its user base is increasing, the company is struggling to keep people spending time on the site and sees video as a possible answer.

Earlier in a blog post, Facebook announced it would no longer allow ads in the middle of videos unless the videos are at least three minutes long.

Facebook will also begin testing ads in its Watch service that run at the beginning of videos, known as pre-roll ads, something the company previously avoided.

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