Corporate competition is always interesting, but it’s even more interesting when it happens between Google and Facebook. According to the Wall Street Journal, Facebook is attempting to lure some of the best content creators on YouTube (owned by Google) to the social network.
Now that Facebook users can upload videos directly to the site, there’s a really good reason why Facebook wants more viral videos to show up in your stream.
The New Facebook Video Option
It used to be that in order to post a video on Facebook, you had to choose a YouTube video. Well, that didn’t make much sense for Facebook, since the company competes with Google. So, now users can upload videos directly to Facebook, which also means that Facebook can add advertisements to those videos.
Clearly, it makes good sense for Facebook to try and entice popular YouTube content creators because that means more money for the social network through advertising, and keeping advertisers happy is how Facebook makes money. So far, Facebook has been relatively successful as far as bringing viral creators over to the social network.
Some Popular Stuff
Thus far, the YouTube content creators that have started to create videos for Facebook (in addition to the videos crafted for YouTube) include Walt Disney’s company “Maker Studios,” “Collective Digital Studio,” and one viral YouTube series called “The Annoying Orange” (created by Collective). The Annoying Orange has a dedicated Facebook page that followers can look at directly through the site.
Without the need to link back to YouTube, Facebook gets to keep all the traffic for itself, and all the advertising dollars. In addition to bringing in advertising money and users for the social network, if Facebook proves to be a more lucrative and popular place for user engagement, Facebook could quickly become the dominant presence in the social media world. Stealing video away from YouTube might take some time, but clearly Facebook is ready to move with the video push.
Good for You Too
If you already create videos on YouTube, the new Facebook video upload feature can bring a lot of new followers to your Facebook page. If you have a company and you’re looking into video advertising options, creating a Facebook page with some videos could be a really good idea (you do have to create decent content, though, so don’t just upload anything!). Even if you don’t already have a YouTube video following or page, Facebook is a good starting point.
There doesn’t seem to be any really strong reason why YouTube content creators wouldn’t be interested in creating Facebook content in addition to the usual YouTube content. Presumably, what’s popular on YouTube will also be popular on Facebook with a few tweaks, and those that already have a YouTube following can simply traffic those users over to Facebook to make the best of both social worlds - it’s a win-win for video content gurus. To use the Facebook upload feature, just click on the “add photo/video” link that appears on your page.