Facebook Says This Will Set It Apart From Netflix and YouTube

Facebook’s Facebook Watch may help set the company apart from other video watching services.

The social media giant has said that its social video watching is what will set it apart from YouTube as well as Netflix.

“Video has always been social, even before the internet, when everybody was watching the same few channels,” said Fidji Simo, Facebook’s head of video.

“Everyone was talking about their favorite shows around the water cooler.”

Facebook has been aiming to get people to watch shows together again. “We can do that because all of your friends are on Facebook,” Simo remarked.”

Facebook is increasing its investment in Facebook Watch and has started talking to media buyers this year, about allowing shorter ad-supported content. This past summer the company also talked to social media stars about broadening ad opportunities.

It was last week that Facebook expanded the service across the world.

Facebook has a feature called Watch Party that lets people watch alongside friends. We are fundamentally different,” Simo explained.

“We are really not focused on passive consumption of video. We are focused on building communities and connections around videos.”

“What we really want to prioritize is content from your friends and family,” Simo said. “We expect that a lot of that will evolve to video in the future because that is the content that people want more and more.”

Disclaimer: We have no position in Facebook, Inc. Common Stock (NASDAQ: FB) and have not been compensated for this article.