Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) is all set to hit the world of video by storm. At F8, its developer conference, the company announced that it would support the spherical videos in its NewsFeed and also introduced an embedded video player which can be used anywhere. It has also declared some welcome updates to its Video API –Application Program Interface.
These updates would help in better control and customization of all the videos being published on Facebook. In turn, these videos would be able to reach a wider audience throughout the world. The updates can be discussed in terms of two sub-headings:
Control
After the new updates, it would be possible to limit the audience of a video based on their age, gender and location. One would be able to put an expiry date for videos – this feature is presently in beta. It would also be possible to upload a new video without any notification in the NewsFeed. Again, it would become easier to manage all the videos and playlists on a given page.
Customization
In case of uploading a video, its uploader would be in a position to add custom thumbnails. It would help in better representation of its contents. Also sub-titles can be introduced over different locations.
Apart from the above, there would be other improvements which would enable faster and more reliable uploading of videos – with an added resumable uploading feature. Also real-time updates would be available to subscribers at the time of video encoding. Some of the other updates include being able to schedule a video and also possibility of gaining some useful insights on a video’s performance.
At F8, Facebook also declared the names of its ten Media Solutions Partners who would help the company in the said process of integrating Video APIs. Their names are: Anvanto, Brightcove, Fullscreen, Grabyo, Kaltura, NowThis, SocialFlow, Spredfast, Vimond and WhipClip.
