Making sense of Facebook’s new video platform, Watch
FACEBOOK Watch, the social network’s new video site, has just been launched.
Watch is the social network’s first attempt to showcase videos made specifically for Facebook - and change the way we watch video in the process.
Or perhaps more accurately, it’s mashing up the many ways we watch and communicate around video into a way that best suits Facebook.
But how can Watch fit into your media diet? To figure it out, it’s best to take a look at the way it pulls features from other video sites. In addition to drawing from Facebook’s own Instagram and Facebook Live products, Watch combines elements of YouTube, Twitter and traditional TV.
Like YouTube, Watch will support professional content creators, whom users can follow and save for viewing at any time. Right now, Facebook is allowing only certain people to make shows after they go through an application process but will eventually let anyone create their own content.
Facebook is also emulating the community live-watching experience of Twitter - or any live service that supports chat, such as Amazon’s Twitch which means fans will be able to connect with each other as events unfold.
And, taking a page from traditional television, Facebook Watch will feature shows that will “air” at regular times as live shows, and may have an actual story arc. It will also carry one professional baseball game a week. That doesn’t exactly make it the new ESPN, but it does mean Watch is offering something that viewers still primarily see only on traditional airwaves.
It’s easy to think of this as Facebook’s attempt to “kill TV.” But while it’s tempting to see this as the social network’s answer to Netflix or even Disney’s asyet-unnamed streaming service, Watch’s prime competitor out there actually seems to be YouTube. And viewers should think of it that way. This isn’t for prestige television, for bingewatching marathons or even for more traditional show formats. Watch is primarily a place for shorter, snackable and - above all - social content.
Facebook is starting Watch’s rollout in the United States with a limited group of people, with promises to expand to everyone “soon.” — Washington Post.
Facebook is also emulating the community livewatching experience of Twitter - or any live service that supports chat, such as Amazon’s Twitch - which means fans will be able to connect with each other as events unfold.