Facebook apparently is moving sharply towards YouTube-style video. Re/code reports that Facebook is testing a system that provides a dedicated video center within Facebook. So not only will users be able to see videos that show up in their personal feeds, but they?ll be able to access a dedicated video hub to watch other video content, based on what they?ve previously viewed, shared or received from friends.
One Facebook executive described the concept as a, ?dedicated place on Facebook for people to go when they exclusively want to watch video,? which will help ?people discover, watch and share videos on Facebook that are relevant to them.?
According to reports, the new Facebook system stops short of being a completely YouTube-like experience. Facebook users will not be able to search for anything on Facebook, but their personalized video hub will be stocked with a lot more than just what their newsfeeds have.
Facebook executives have been predicting for some time that, in the not-so-distant future, Facebook will be mostly video.
Wired quotes Edison financial analyst Richard Windsor as saying that Facebook users have already started to use video differently. They used to mostly post YouTube videos on Facebook, but that?s changing. ?Over the past 18 months, such cross-linking has shrunk radically.? Windsor says that now 70 percent of videos on Facebook are being uploaded directly compared to just 25 percent in early 2014.?
So far, Facebook is just testing the system. Only a limited number of users are seeing the new personalized video hub.