We already touched on the battle between web giants Facebook and Youtube, but there have been a few key developments in the fight for ‘best video host’ …
Facebook now allow videos to be embedded without the supporting post.
Previously Facebook videos could only be embedded onto other websites with the entire original post containing the video. As of the end of March 2015 Facebook announced that videos could be embedded in the same manner as Youtube videos, with just the video being displayed. This is something that in my opinion gave Youtube a major upper-hand when it came to business video. Users can now choose which embed platform suits them best whether it be Facebook or Youtube. For me, Youtube still has the upper hand but this may change during the year!
The quality competition
It is obvious even to the untrained eye that youtube videos are much better quality than Facebook videos. This is due to Facebook compressing the videos to make them quicker to upload and less of a strain on servers. The HD function just doesn’t quite cut it. This (currently) makes Youtube much better to use, as video quality is very important to portray a quality brand image. Facebook are combating this by hiring a small company that have developed technology that in their words “dramatically reduces the bandwidth needed to view video online without degrading video quality”. When this may be implemented is to be confirmed.
Facebook or Youtube?
Both have their pros and cons but I personally would recommend using Youtube as your main video platform as the image quality is higher and searchability is much better due to Youtube being owned by Google. That said, if you are sharing videos to Facebook I would reconsider just pasting Youtube video links…users have reported that Facebook throttle the amount of people that will see it, so it will get much less of a reach.
Conclusion
If you are a regular user of Facebook be sure to upload videos to both platforms. If you upload regular content why not do your own trials and see what performs best!