Facebook to increase focus on short videos

Short videos on Facebook rolled late last year, and now, a new leak reveals that the platform will now have a Discovery Engine to offer more personalised short video recommendations.

This makes it quite similar to TikTok's "For You" feed. Facebook also plans to prioritise and promote original creators on its short video platform. The leak, which is in the form of a memo, also reveals that recommendations would also come from "unconnected" content which means that users will see different genres of short videos to stay engaged.

While it may be banned in India, a report by Sensor Tower claims that TikTok was the top app by worldwide downloads in Q1 2022 with more than 175 million downloads, making it the most popular social media app globally.

Facebook’s sister platform Instagram has already been aggressively pushing TikTok-rivalling Reels since 2020. Of late, Instagram has also been adding more TikTok-inspired effects and features to its Reels editor as well.

Now, it is Facebook that wants to double down on short videos as well. Do not be surprised to see more TikTok like features being incorporated into Facebook in future.