Facebook on Wednesday announced new full-screen videos designed to provide a more consistent design and experience for all types of video lengths, including short-form Reels, long-form videos, and even live content. The company says it will announce the player. The upgraded player was first released in the US and Canada and is intended to streamline the experience of both viewing and sharing video content. But more importantly, you'll now see videos in portrait mode by default, and Facebook will also show you which videos are most relevant to watch next, no matter what type of video (long, short, live, etc.) will be able to recommend videos with high quality.
The latter change can impact important factors that creators and advertisers care about, such as watch time, views, and reach. For Facebook, on the other hand, more people watching videos on the platform means more time on the site, which can lead to more ad views, clicks, and more. It also provides a way for Facebook to better compete with other popular video platforms that rely on algorithmic recommendations, such as YouTube and TikTok, expanding the pool of possible recommendations to include more video formats.
These improved recommendations will also appear outside of the player in your Facebook feed and video tab. Additionally, Facebook said it will show users more Reels in the future given the demand for short-form audio.
Facebook says the upgraded player also offers new controls, including a full-screen mode for landscape videos and a slider to skip on long videos. Additionally, users will be able to tap on a video to see more options, such as pausing, going back 10 seconds, or fast forwarding.
Image credit: Meta
Notably, the player defaults to displaying videos in portrait mode, such as on TikTok, but users can use the full-screen option for horizontal videos to flip and watch them in landscape mode. By comparison, TikTok is also testing horizontal videos and 30-minute long-form content as it aims to compete with YouTube and other sites.
Facebook's player will initially roll out to iOS and Android devices in the U.S. and Canada, followed by a global expansion in the coming months.
Improving the video playback experience could also help Facebook capture the attention of younger viewers.
Image credit: Meta
While Facebook has declined in popularity among Gen Z over the past decade, the New York Times recently reported that many young people are turning to Facebook's Marketplace. This gives Facebook an opportunity to try to capture users' attention in other ways on the site, such as video, Gen Z's preferred social format.
There are other hints that young people are starting to rediscover Facebook, NBC News reports. Generation Z has been shown to be behind the “Facebook poke,” a gesture that was a simple way to say hello but was long forgotten. For example, Facebook announced in March that the number of pokes in the past month had jumped 13 times.
The video player changes also come at a time when U.S. lawmakers are considering a possible ban on TikTok, which, if enacted, could increase video consumption on other social platforms.