Why Facebook Isn't All About Hotdog Legs Anymore

So the chat right now is all about Facebook (again!). No longer is it an ennui-inducing scroll through friends' hotdog legs and kids blowing out birthday candles, because Facebook has quietly transformed into your de-facto mobile browser.

Have a look at your feed – I bet there are as many publishers popping up as friends. Buzzfeed wrote the book on it (over 60 per ent of their traffic comes directly from social). But a whole host of other publishers, from The Economist to Vogue and beyond, are realigning their publishing strategy to a more Facebook-first mindset – one that’s focused on content discovery rather than search.

This was brought into even sharper focus when Facebook announced their intent to host original content on the platform itself with Instant Articles (more of which below). The question for content creators is this – when the 250m users who engage with Facebok each day embark on an endless scroll through their feed, how do you land that most elusive of things, the “scrollstopper” – that magical moment which halts the thumb and triggers the click?

The good news for video producers is that, increasingly, it’s the moving image that’s delivering this moment, so here are three pointers in the battle for discovery:

Silence is Golden

You know that beautiful sound design and mix you spent three expensive days on? Sorry but nobody cares on Facebook. Video autoplays silently, so it’s vital that video is not audio dependent for impact.

Focus instead on something distinctive in the visual language that will hook you in. Super-sized-supers seem to be the simple plat du jour; “Ronseal video”, packaged up with graphics to do what it says on the tin (enough to make a director’s heart sink, I know).

But it needn’t be this crude or unoriginal. And in fact the exact opposite can be powerful: try making the audio the missing piece. How can the video make you desperate to trigger audio – what might I be missing? If you can make people flip their phones horizontal and hit un-mute, you’ve got them.

WTF

Some of the best videos feel like they've crash-landed into your feed uninvited. We learnt lots for a spot we created for Sainsbury’s to promote novelty Christmas Jumpers. The video (of unlikely middle-aged dads dancing in festive knitwear) was designed to feel as random as possible – grainy crowd-shot footage of what looked like a community hall, dressed for a Christmas party.

The immediate discord this created – why’s this in my feed? – was irresistible. The film’s been viewed 28 million times (thanks to fans re-posting it) and shared over 500k times (incidentally the dads, who stayed together as a band following the shoot, are currently enjoying fame as OMG on Britain’s Got Talent. Nobody saw that coming. Ultimate WTF!)

More Immersive Moments

With the launch of Instant Articles, selected publishers will host their content directly on Facebook (rather than a click away). The opportunity in this is for much richer immersive experiences, which combine text, photography and video seamlessly.

Whilst everybody right now thinks about quick, snackable content, this allows a move towards richer, longer, more immersive experiences without the need to ever leave Facebook.

Check some early examples by National Geographic, Buzzfeed and The Guardian. They are mightily impressive. But still, the thought of never leaving Facebook again (*shudders*)?