Social Media

Facebook rolls out new update on how it ranks Video in News Feeds


Expect to see some changes on how videos will appear on your Facebook news feed from now henceforth. Initially, videos were ranked based on a few reactions you make on the video of whether the video is live or not and also how long the video is watched,  whether people choose to turn on the sound, and if people open the video in fullscreen.

Facebook has however announced that it is making some changes to the way videos will be ranked in News Feeds. This, it says is to adjust the value it gives to how much of a video is watched.  Facebook is adding ‘’Percent Completion’’. The percent of each video you watch will now determine how to rank a video and also the type of video to appear in your News Feed. 

Percent Completion is basically the amount of time you watch each video before scrolling to the next item. The longer you watch a video, the more compelling it is and this means it will appear more in your News Feeds.

‘’If you watch most or all of a video, that tells us that you found the video to be compelling — and we know that completing a longer video is a bigger commitment than completing a shorter one,’’ Facebook said in a blog post.

So how will this impact your Facebook page?

Well, Facebook says most Pages will not see significant changes as a result of this update.

‘’While we expect that most Pages will not see significant changes in distribution as a result of this update, longer videos that people spend time watching may see a slight increase in distribution on Facebook — so people who find longer videos engaging may be able to discover more of them in News Feed. As a side effect, some shorter videos may see a slight dip in News Feed distribution.’’

This change started being rolled out today although not all users will notice it immediately.  Facebook, however, says This change will roll out gradually over the coming weeks.

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Nixon Kanali

Tech journalist based in Nairobi. I track and report on tech and African startups. Founder and Editor of TechTrends Media. Nixon is also the East African tech editor for Africa Business Communities. Send tips to nkanali@techtrendske.co.ke.

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