Facebook is testing a suite of new video features, including a dedicated video section, as it moves further and further into digital territory traditionally the province of YouTube.Facebook has introduced a number of new video features in recent times, including a feature allowing public figures to live stream video and 360 degree videos,
with Will Cathcart, Facebook VP of product management, advising that
the social network is testing a number of additional features.
Facebook is focusing on catering to users’ video watching habits, Cathcart wrote via an online post.
“We
know people enjoy these more immersive video experiences, but we’re
also learning that people want to watch videos in different ways at
different times,” he wrote.
“We have been testing a number of new
features that give people more flexibility when watching videos,
whether you’re watching a video in News Feed on-the-go or sitting down
to enjoy multiple videos back-to-back.”
Suggested videos, a
feature that Facebook has been testing on the iPhone, designed to make
it easy to discover multiple related videos in a row after a user taps
on a video from the News Feed, has been rolled out to most iPhone users
globally, with Facebook starting to test this on web, with plans for
Android testing in the coming months.
Facebook is also starting to test ads within the experience.
For
users looking to multi-task, Facebook is testing a way to view videos
via a floating screen while simultaneously multi-tasking on Facebook,
with the social network also testing a button for users to save videos to
watch at a later time.
Also among the features being tested is a dedicated video section, helping users “discover, watch and
share videos on Facebook that are relevant to them”, where users can go when they exclusively want to watch videos, be it videos that they
have saved for later, videos from friends, pages that they follow, or
from other video publishers on Facebook.
The video section is
currently being tested among a small group of users, with the section
accessible via a video icon at the bottom of the Facebook app on the iPhone
or in the “Favorites” section on the left-hand side of News Feed on the
web.
