Facebook is really making it clear that the company is aiming to bring Youtube serious competition in the online video business. The integration of video content among other recent additions to the site is pointing towards Facebook becoming an all-in-one online platform. The social networking giant has announced to major developments which will be added to its online video arm, Facebook Videos.
In a blog post written on July 21, yesterday, product manager Anaid Gomez-Ortega said, "We're building tools to help video publishers grow their businesses on Facebook, and we're excited to announce two new updates that give publishers more control over how their videos are organized and shared."
The two major improvements on Facebook Videos are enhancements on the video upload and Video Library. "The enhanced video upload flow gives Page owners customized distribution options for videos on Facebook, while the new Video Library is a simple, centralized place to manage videos," Gomez-Ortega said.
Integrated in the improved video upload system is the Secret Videos, which allows video makers to permit limited access to their content. Secret Videos only lets people with a direct URL to have access on a particular video from a specific source. They will not be searchable on Facebook. This is helpful for users who want to embed videos in other websites and share them with only a number who have the URL.
The advanced settings of the new feature also lets the user choose whether or not to exclude the video from Newsfeed, and to prohibit embedding.
Page owners now have more control over who can watch their videos, as the new settings categorize the videos according to audiences. The settings also lets the users set an expiry date for their videos, and publish them directly on their page. To better customize content, users can pick and add thumbnails for their own videos, and label them accordingly.
The Video Library, on the other hand, manages video distribution. It also lets users view Secret Videos, and search them by title and other filters.
The social media giant has only recently added the 'Watch Later' button to the videos' expanding number of tools. Moreover, apart from videos, the company is also venturing into e-commerce, developing existing features of the site for that specific purpose.
