A recent update to the Facebook mobile app shined light on a major pivot by the social network. Now, there front-and-center is an all new video tab. The tab takes users to a dedicated feed featuring videos from Pages users follow along with content Facebook thinks they might be interested in.

News Feed Reliant No More

There was really one place on Facebook to find videos up until this point, the News Feed. Users have been served up video content in the same place they view photos, static posts, links to articles and everything else one has come to expect from the feed.

This new video tab takes the cluttered feed out of the equation and creates a destination specifically for video content.

From Serendipity to Destination

A key aspect that separated video platforms like YouTube from Facebook was how the video content was delivered. YouTube is much more of a destination viewing experience. A user is going to YouTube to watch a specific video. There are exceptions to this, such as suggested videos, but for the most part the user is acting to watch something specific. That hasn’t been the same for Facebook.

Video content on Facebook has been served up to users in the News Feed, so users go on Facebook and end up watching video content unexpectedly. It’s serendipitous when a user comes across something they spend time with.

The video tab changes that for Facebook. It gives users a destination to deliberately watch video content, and that intention gives marketers a new opportunity for leveraging Facebook video.

Deeper Storytelling

The name of the game on Facebook for video has been to get the message out there quickly and don’t demand too much of the user’s time. After all, they weren’t planning to watch a video in the first place.

That approach isn’t and shouldn’t go away, but the dedicated video tab is for users who are ready to spend time with video content, which creates an opportunity for brands to create more long-form stories that entertain and captivate an audience that is seeking video. They’re ready to relinquish their attention to something worth their time. That longer-form content has primarily been relegated to YouTube. Now, Facebook can be a destination for that longer-form storytelling content as well as the short-form, attention grabbing videos for the News Feed.

Without a doubt, Facebook sees video as core to its future, and brands seeing the greatest success have embraced it. Now, Facebook is offering a broader canvas for video to come to life depending on what marketers want to achieve and what they’re audiences are seeking.