Facebook’s video service has been around since 2007. For a long time, it struggled to gain any real traction with users. However, in the past couple of years, Facebook has seen tremendous growth in its video service. It is now second only to YouTube in terms of views, and it’s still growing. Facebook itself has published statistics that show 94% growth in the number of videos posted in the United States in the past year. In fact, Facebook has revealed that over half of all visitors to the site view at least one video each day.

There are even a couple of areas where Facebook video has surpassed YouTube. During the ice bucket challenge, which benefited ALS research, the majority of videos were posted on Facebook. By the time ice bucket challenge videos had received 1 billion views on YouTube, the videos posted on Facebook had already been viewed 10 billion times. And in November 2014, Facebook users made more posts with Facebook video than they did with videos from YouTube.

Growth of Facebook Video

It’s clear Facebook video is growing, but what sets it apart from YouTube? Unsurprisingly, Facebook video’s greatest strengths involve how well it works on Facebook itself. Facebook videos play automatically as users scroll down their news feeds. This is beneficial because Facebook videos don’t require users to take additional action to view your video. Once the video begins to play, you may attract viewers who wouldn’t have clicked a play button. You may also want to consider that when producing videos that will be posted to Facebook video. Videos that catch the viewers’ attention quickly can engage those viewers for longer.

While you might think that videos that play automatically are more likely to be ignored, this study suggests just the opposite. Facebook videos are more likely to attract likes, shares, and other types of interaction on Facebook than YouTube videos. Facebook videos are found in the news feed. The preview images are also larger than those for other video services. These factors help explain why Facebook users are more likely to interact with Facebook videos.

Facebook video was designed to integrate with the rest of the site. If your business is already active on Facebook, using Facebook video is a natural extension of your presence. And if you’re already producing videos for your business, Facebook video is another terrific platform to help spread your content.

Expert Social Media Team

If you need high-quality videos to promote your business, BSG has you covered. If you have existing videos, our expert videographers and social media team can edit that footage into something well suited to YouTube, Facebook, and other online platforms. And if you need entirely new video, BSG can do that as well. Our media experts have the tools, know-how, and experience to produce videos that highlight your business and attract customers. Contact BSG today to talk to a representative and learn more.