Facebook will prioritize (some) longer videos in the News Feed

It seems like everyone is trying to publish short-form video content on Facebook. Why? Well, because it seems to work. Zuckerberg and the entire Facebook team see video as its future, from virtual reality and live video to news coverage and brand marketing.

It appears, however, that a small News Feed algorithm change is on the way, which would prioritize longer but more relevant videos in your Feed. That means, you might see more videos that Facebook believes you will like versus an onslaught of one-minute videos (via TechCrunch).

“The company explains that ‘percent completion’ – how much of a video is watched – is still just one of the signals it uses to determine which videos should show up in your News Feed. It also takes into account a number of other factors, like if you turn on the sound, go fullscreen, turn on high-def, among other things. And it considers whether or not a video is live.”

Facebook is making this adjustment because shorter videos are inherently easier to complete than longer ones. But, completing a video doesn’t mean you’ll like it more than something else that is twice as long, but perhaps much more targeted and relevant to you.

Until now, Facebook evenly weighed the percentage of completion, so 60 percent of a 3-minute video was the same as 60 percent of a 12-minute video. With this update, it will score the latter higher.

This change applies only to organic videos, and will not affect paid video ad distribution.

According to Facebook, “the best length for a video is whatever length is required to tell a compelling story that engages people, which is likely to vary depending on the story you’re telling.”

Learn the latest trends, insights and best practices from the brightest minds in media and technology. Sign up for SMW Insider to watch full-length sessions from official Social Media Week conferences live and on-demand.