Facebook is adding a new feature to the share video function as a result of its soaring popularity – view counts. These will be available for both pages and ordinary users.
This follows tremendous growth of the medium on Facebook: video views on the social media site grew by an incredible 50% between May and July in this year alone, and that was prior even to the ice bucket challenge craze, which as we already know had an enormous impact on video views. As it stands 1 billion videos are viewed on Facebook every single day, 65% of which are viewed on mobile devices.
Despite this widespread popularity of the medium, the only numerical figure you could see on videos posted on Facebook were the number of likes for the video or on any of its comments. However now anyone who posts a video will be able to see the number of views it accrues in addition to the number who have opted to like it. This will likely range from 1 or 2 views from a user with minimal active friends to the thousands or more likely even millions from well-known brands or celebrities, or from video posts which have been shared and gone viral.
Project Management Director for Video, Fidjo Simo explained the change and how that information might help businesses target potential customers:
“Views will be shown on all public videos from people and pages. We believe this will help people discover popular videos and help businesses quickly gather information about how their videos are performing.
“We know that video viewing is exploding around the world, and much of this growth is being powered by mobile devices. In a recent white paper, Why Mobile Is Essential for Brand Marketers, Altimeter Group’s Rebecca Lieb writes, “Mobile today equals mass media, a trend that offers brand marketers unprecedented opportunities to connect with people in incredibly personal ways on devices that are by their sides nearly 24/7.”
“These factors present a clear opportunity for brands, particularly those that advertise on Facebook, where more than 65 percent of our video views are happening on mobile.”
It’s not just Facebook themselves who are aware of the impact that video can have, brands are also attesting the sheer power a video campaign on Facebook can have. Facebook’s announcement shared testimonials from clients, including Unilever’s TRESemme brand. Senior Brand Building Manager, Jen Daly told of the brand’s 85% uplift in sales due a promotional Facebook video they ran during fashion week.
Beyond the benefits to business it would now definitely seem the right time to whip out your phone’s video camera and wait in expectant silence by your casually indifferent pets, on the off chance they do anything of mild to apoplectic hilarity.