Facebook Announces Video App For Apple TV And Amazon Fire TV Streaming Platforms
Video is becoming an increasingly important part of the Facebook experience. It is the reason why Mark Zuckerberg and the gang in 2016 launched Facebook Live, a live streaming feature similar to Periscope, and it is why you will soon be able to watch Facebook videos on your television through a new app for TV. It is one of several things Facebook is doing to promote video.
The new Facebook video app for TV will roll out soon to app stores for Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and Samsung Smart TV, Facebook announced today. Support for other platforms is planned as well, though Facebook did not say which ones or offer up any kind of timetable.
"With the app, you can watch videos shared by friends or Pages you follow, top live videos from around the world, and recommended videos based on your interests. You can also catch up on videos you’ve saved to watch later, as well as revisit videos you’ve watched, shared or uploaded. We look forward to seeing how people use the app to enjoy Facebook videos in a new way," Facebook explains.
Facebook users are already able to stream videos from Facebook to their television, a feature that was rolled out last year. Today's announcement is an expansion of that. It takes things further by integrating the function into a dedicated app, as well as expand playback to videos shared by others rather than just your own.
This is part of the vision that Zuckerberg shared during Facebook's earnings call earlier this month. At the time he said the goal was to make Facebook the place where people would go to "watch videos or want to keep up to date with what's going on with their favorite show."
The new Facebook video app for TV will roll out soon to app stores for Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and Samsung Smart TV, Facebook announced today. Support for other platforms is planned as well, though Facebook did not say which ones or offer up any kind of timetable.
"With the app, you can watch videos shared by friends or Pages you follow, top live videos from around the world, and recommended videos based on your interests. You can also catch up on videos you’ve saved to watch later, as well as revisit videos you’ve watched, shared or uploaded. We look forward to seeing how people use the app to enjoy Facebook videos in a new way," Facebook explains.
Facebook users are already able to stream videos from Facebook to their television, a feature that was rolled out last year. Today's announcement is an expansion of that. It takes things further by integrating the function into a dedicated app, as well as expand playback to videos shared by others rather than just your own.
This is part of the vision that Zuckerberg shared during Facebook's earnings call earlier this month. At the time he said the goal was to make Facebook the place where people would go to "watch videos or want to keep up to date with what's going on with their favorite show."
New Ways to Watch Facebook VideoPosted by Facebook on Monday, February 13, 2017
In addition to announcing a dedicated app, Facebook outlined some changes it made to videos in people's news feeds. Unless a phone is set to silent, videos now play with sound by default. You can change this in Settings.
Facebook also made changes to make vertical videos look better on mobile devices, and added the ability to keep scrolling while a video minimizes and plays in a picture-in-picture view.
