Facebook adding more live video tools

Facebook thinks it has the answer for waning user engagement—better livestreams.

The company has a seen a drop in users in the U.S., pointing to an overall trend of decreased web traffic and a loss of consumer trust. However, the company is still pushing its live video offerings.

Facebook sees the decline in users as part of a growing dissatisfaction with social media experiences. CEO Mark Zuckerberg promised to change how Facebook operates before the Cambridge Analytica scandal forced the company to play defense on its data-use policies. Now, Facebook wants to get back to its mission of improving user experience on its platform.

[RELATED: Overcome your biggest challenges in internal comms, PR and social media]

TechCrunch wrote:

Zombie-like passive consumption of static video is both unhealthy for viewers and undifferentiated for the tech giants that power it. That’s set Facebook on a mission to make video interactive, full of conversation with broadcasters and fellow viewers. It’s racing against Twitch, YouTube, Twitter and Snapchat to become where people watch together and don’t feel like asocial slugs afterward.

That’s why Facebook today told TechCrunch that it’s acqui-hired Vidpresso, buying its seven-person team and its technology but not the company itself. The six-year-old Utah startup works with TV broadcasters and content publishers to make their online videos more interactive with on-screen social media polling and comments, graphics and live broadcasting integrated with Facebook, YouTube, Periscope and more. The goal appears to be to equip independent social media creators with the same tools these traditional outlets use so they can make authentic but polished video for the Facebook platform.

In a blog post on Medium, Vidpresso announced that it would be joining Facebook. It wrote, in part:

Way back in 2012 we founded Vidpresso with a simple vision: To make
video more like HTML — easier to author, easier to change, and
customized per person. We’ve had a lot of false starts along the
way, first offering tools to help synchronize presentations with
slides, then offering tools to help broadcasters put social media
on TV. We finally landed on helping create high quality broadcasts
back on social media, but we still haven’t realized the full
vision yet.

That’s why we’re joining Facebook. This gives us the best
opportunity to accelerate our vision and offer a simple way for
creators, publishers, and broadcasters to use social media in live
video at a high quality level. We’ve always wanted to build tools
for everyone to create interactive live video experiences.

Vidpresso has also published a video of the tools it offers:

Though some broadcasters are already using Vidpresso’s tools, many consider the Facebook acquisition to be aimed at helping smaller, less-experienced videographers produce better content.

TechCrunch continued:

But the last line of Vidpresso’s announcement above explains Facebook’s intentions here, and also why it didn’t just try to build the tools itself. It doesn’t just want established news publishers and TV studios making video for its platform. It wants semi-pro creators to be able to broadcast snazzy videos with graphics, comments and polls that can aesthetically compete with “big video” but that feel more natural. This focus on creators over news outlets aligns with reports of Facebooks head of journalist relations Campbell Brown allegedly saying that Mark Zuckerberg doesn’t care about publishers and that “We are not interested in talking to you about your traffic and referrals any more. That is the old world and there is no going back.” Facebook has contested these reports.

The biggest opportunity might be for influencers and creators—and the companies that partner with them.

TechCrunch concluded:

Whichever video hub offers the best audience growth, creative expression tools and monetization options will become the preferred destination for creators’ work, and their audiences will follow. Vidpresso could help these creators look more like TV anchors than selfie monologuers, but also help them earn money by integrating brand graphics and tie-ins.

Facebook employees have greeted their new colleagues on Twitter:

Welcome to the team @vidpresso! Facebook buys Vidpresso's team and tech to make video interactive https://t.co/QT80te2vZZ via @techcrunch #Smsports

— Nick Marquez (@Quezzymoto) August 13, 2018

What do you think of Facebook’s acquisition, PR Daily readers? Does it excite you about Facebook’s future capabilities? How might you use Vidpresso’s offerings?

from PR Daily News Feed https://ift.tt/2MlRYBM