In 2016, Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg told BuzzFeed News, “We’re entering this new golden age of video. I wouldn’t be surprised if you fast-forward five years and most of the content that people see on Facebook and are sharing on a day-to-day basis is video.”
- YouTube and Facebook dominate online landscape
While his prediction has not proven 100% true, there is no doubt that video consumption on social media platforms has risen dramatically. “We built this big technology platform so we can go and support whatever the most personal and emotional and raw and visceral ways people want to communicate are as time goes on,” Zuckerberg said. Video content hits that target squarely.
YouTube and Facebook continue to dominate the online landscape, with 81% and 69%, respectively, of Americans reporting ever using these sites, according to a report by Pew Research Center. Seven-in-ten Facebook users say they use the site daily, including 49% who say they use the site several times a day.
Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok, have an especially strong following among young adults, according to the research, which finds that a majority of 18- to 29-year-olds say they use Instagram (71%) or Snapchat (65%), while roughly half say the same for TikTok.
- Instagram focusses on creators, video, shopping, messaging
TikTok has just introduced sharing of videos of up to three minutes in length—tripling its original 60-second limit—in a move it says will allow users to better tell their stories and make for more entertaining video. And Instagram head, Adam Mosseri, said in a video posted on Twitter on June 30th that Instagram is building new features that will help “… get the most out of your experience. Right now, we’re focused on four key areas: creators, video, shopping and messaging,” he said.
“I’ve talked a lot about creators and trying to help them make a living,” Mosseri says in the video, “and this has to do with the shift in power from institutions to individuals across industries. Video is driving an immense amount of growth online from all the major platforms right now and it’s one that I think we need to lean into more.
“We’re no longer a photo-sharing app, or a square photo-sharing app,” Mosseri says, claiming that people are more and more looking to Instagram for entertainment. “Let’s be honest, there’s some really serious competition right now. TikTok is huge. YouTube is even bigger, and there’s lots of other upstarts as well.
“We’re going to be experimenting with how do we embrace video more broadly—full screen, immersive, entertaining, mobile-first video. You’ll see us do a number of things, or experiment with a number of things in this space over the coming months. There’s stiff competition, and there’s more to do,” Mosseri says. “We have to embrace that, and that means change.”