Social Media giant Facebook is slowly expanding itself and is taking over its competitors in different areas by launching similar services. It did the same with Snapchat by introducing Instagram Stories and WhatsApp Status, however, the company is now aiming for something bigger. This Menlo Park based social media giant now has its sight set on video services, and hence, the company has introduced Watch.
Yes, that’s what Facebook is calling it. Watch is a new platform from Facebook for watching videos across different devices like smartphones, desktop, laptop as well as from within the TV app. On this new platform, users will be able to watch live or recorded episodes of different shows.
The videos tab within the app will be divided into two sections – Discover and Watchlist. As the name suggests, the Discover section will help users find new, different types of shows based on what’s popular as well as what their friends are watching, whereas, Watchlist will help you keep up with your favorite shows that you are following.
“Watch is personalized to help you discover new shows, organized around what your friends and communities are watching. For example, you’ll find sections like “Most Talked About,” which highlights shows that spark conversation, “What’s Making People Laugh,” which includes shows where many people have used the “Haha” reaction, and “What Friends Are Watching,” which helps you connect with friends about shows they too are following.” said Daniel Danker, Director of Product, Facebook.
Initially, Watch will have shows like Nas Daily, Gabby Bernstein, Kitchen Little and Major League Baseball which will be broadcasted live. Moreover, Facebook has said that they have funded some shows to “inspire creators and seed the ecosystem”.
For now, Facebook will be bringing Watch to a limited number of people in the US, however, it plans to roll it out to more people soon. Having said that, even the shows will be open to only a limited number of creators with Facebook opening it up to more creators soon.
Well, with the introduction of Watch, Facebook will be competing with the likes of YouTube and Netflix which are very well established in this space. It now remains to be seen whether Facebook is able to make a dent in their share with the introduction of Watch. What do you think, will Facebook succeed ?
