[OPLIN 4cast] OPLIN 4Cast #617: If your library is still focused on video content, time to re-think

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OPLIN 4Cast #617: If your library is still focused on video content, time
to re-think
October 24th, 2018

[image: Close up Two hand holding mobile phone with Video marketing word
and icons, Online Digital Marketing concept.]

*"You've got to be doing video. That's all Facebook is going to be, very
soon. Even their algorithms are going to start promoting video content over
other types. Better get on it ASAP!"*
Those are my words to libraries, probably back around 2015 or so. The
sentiment was based on Facebook's highly-publicized efforts to move content
creators primarily to video formats.  As it turned out, not only was I
wrong, but Facebook's alleged "pivot to video" effort never truly
materialized...and then, it inflated and misrepresented statistics that
videos were accumulating (and is now being sued
<https://www.wired.com/story/facebook-lawsuit-pivot-to-video-mistake/> for
it). What has resulted is a major, chaotic mess that is likely going to
take a long time to straighten out. Meanwhile, some companies are
abandoning Facebook video entirely. If your library is still strongly
focused on video content for Facebook, it's time to re-evaluate.

   -
   - How Facebook’s Chaotic Push Into Video Cost Hundreds of Journalists
   Their Jobs
   <https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/10/facebook-driven-video-push-may-have-cost-483-journalists-their-jobs/573403/>
   [The Atlantic] "Even if, as Facebook argues, it did not knowingly inflate
   metrics, it set up new and fast-changing incentives for video that altered
   the online ad market as a whole. As media companies desperately tried to do
   what Facebook wanted, many made the disastrous decision to 'pivot to
   video,' laying off reporters and editors by the dozen. And when views
   plunged and video’s poor return on investment became more apparent, some
   companies pivoted back, firing video producers by the dozens."
   - The perils of Facebook’s pivot to video
   <https://www.rappler.com/technology/features/214837-perils-facebook-pivot-video>
   [Rappler] "This development does not only affect advertisers who bought
   into the entire pivot to video schtick, but also publishers, content
   creators, and media outfits who have seamlessly integrated producing social
   videos into their respective workflows. This pivot was touted by no less
   than Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg himself as the harbinger of the 'new
   golden age of video.'"
   - Facebook Video Ad Metric Lawsuit Prompts Publishers to Revisit the
   ‘Pivot to Video’
   <https://www.adweek.com/digital/facebook-video-ad-metric-lawsuit-prompts-publishers-to-revisit-the-pivot-to-video/>
   [Ad Week] "The information prompted a wave of conversation in the
   publishing industry about the extent to which the metrics, which Facebook
   first acknowledged were being miscalculated in 2016, influenced publishers’
   decisions to throw resources behind social video efforts, often at the cost
   of their newsrooms."
   - Why We Abandoned Facebook Video
   <https://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/why-we-abandoned-facebook-video/>
   [Social Media Examiner'] "Here’s why we killed two shows and moved a third
   one over to YouTube. All of our analysis showed that people are NOT
   watching video on Facebook. Especially if it’s longer than about a minute
   or two. Why? Facebook is a highway and no one stops to watch video (at
   least for us.) Instead, they scroll. However, YouTube is where people
   prefer to watch videos that are longer than a few minutes."

*From the Ohio Web Library <http://ohioweblibrary.org>:*

   - Facebook's Video Invasion
   <https://proxy.oplin.org:2111/login.aspx?direct=true&db=buh&AN=103123800&site=ehost-live>
   (Griffith, E. (2015). Facebook’s Video Invasion. (cover story). *Fortune*,
   *171*(8), 148–156)
   - Report: Facebook captures 25% of U.S. digital video ad revenue
   <http://proxy.oplin.org:2054/login.aspx?direct=true&db=cmh&AN=2W61936070062>
   (Lee, W. (2018, October 9). Report: Facebook captures 25% of U.S. digital
   video ad revenue. *Los Angeles Times (CA))*
   - Facebook Messenger Will Soon Autoplay Video Ads
   <https://proxy.oplin.org:2111/login.aspx?direct=true&db=buh&AN=130264061&site=ehost-live>
   (egarra, L. M. (2018). Facebook Messenger Will Soon Autoplay Video Ads.
   *Fortune.Com*, 1)

------------------------------
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