Facebook is testing a new video feature, which would should help increase views on the desktop. It lets you pop a video out of your News Feed (or out of a Facebook Page) and continue watching while you scroll.
Remember how awesome it was when YouTube finally started letting you continue watching videos on your mobile device while browsing the site for other things? It’s kind of like that, except on desktop.
The feature was first reported by TheNextWeb, and while not all users are seeing it, I’ve found myself among the lucky few. Unfortunately, the feature does not appear on all Facebook videos. I am seeing it on those from Hamish & Andy, which is the same as what TNW reported on. In other words, go to that Page and check to see if you have it.
Once you’ve popped the video out, you can actually drag it around, which is pretty cool, although it would be nice if you could resize it as well.
As you’re probably aware, Facebook is taking video a lot more seriously these days, and has been making significant moves to step up its game and take on YouTube in video ad dollars. This includes video ads within videos and revenue sharing. As much as video has already been growing on Facebook, it’s going to need to make sure people are keeping those videos playing, and this feature-in-testing is a pretty ideal way to do that.
Of course as users elect to pop a video out and continue scrolling through their News Feeds, that means they’re not devoting their full attention to the video and almost certainly not to any potential ads that appear within. For that reason, the experience may not prove to be all that beneficial to advertisers relying ads within the videos themselves.
For the time being, I’m only seeing this feature on desktop. As YouTube has already proven, it would make just as much sense on mobile.