Facebook Looks to Rival YouTube With a Dedicated Place for Watching Video

Facebook is testing a number of new features on the iPhone that give people more flexibility when watching video.

Suggested videos make it easy to discover multiple related videos in a row after you tap on a video from News Feed.

"While we’re still in the early days of testing, we’re pleased with initial results, which show that people who have suggested videos are discovering and watching more new videos. We’ve now rolled out suggested videos to most people on iPhone globally, and are starting to test ads within the experience. We are also starting to test this on the web, and plan to test on Android phones in the coming months."




In addition, the company knows people sometimes want to multitask while they watch videos. To make this possible, they're testing a way for people to watch a video in a floating screen while simultaneously multitasking on Facebook.



If you can't watch a video right away, a new button is in testing that allows you to save a video to watch later under your “Saved” bookmark.




Lastly, Facebook is testing a dedicated place on Facebook for people to go when they exclusively want to watch video—whether that’s videos they’ve saved for later, or videos from friends, Pages they follow, and other video publishers on Facebook. This new videos section helps people discover, watch and share videos on Facebook that are relevant to them. It can be accessed by tapping a “Videos” icon at the bottom of the Facebook app on iPhone or in the “Favorites” section on the left-hand side of News Feed on the web.

"We’ll be testing this with a small number of people now, so this isn’t something most people will see on Facebook right away. We look forward to seeing how people use it to discover, watch and share videos with their friends."



Take a look at the video below for a demonstration of some of the new features. Please follow iClarified on Twitter, Facebook, or RSS for updates.