Facebook rolls out update that will track the videos you enjoy, even muted and without liking

dkpope

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The next time you make a video full screen or turn the volume all the way up, Facebook will notice. In a blog post on Monday, Facebook announced a few changes to the types of data they collect from videos in the news feed so they can offer a tailor-made experience and boost views.

After reviewing user feedback, Facebook discovered that often people will watch a video or read a post, and find it meaningful, but won't like, comment or share it. Due to this, the site now tracks the amount of time spent on a certain post in comparison to other content in the feed.

Facebook also learned how we really view videos -- muted because we're at work or our significant other is sleeping and full screen if we like the video- - even if we don't actually click the "Like" button. The update uses this data to display other, more likeable, videos higher in the feed, and to avoid showing videos the person doesn't want to watch.

Earlier in June, Facebook's video traffic hit 4 billion daily views, a number that contends with YouTube, so there is high incentive to understand which videos people want to see and set those videos in a tailored news feed. With this update, content creators won't be able to get by just flooding Facebook with videos. The clips will have to be an interesting watch to get big view numbers.

Image credit: Shutterstock

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Good god - if I don't like it, comment on it, share it - that means I don't want to have anything further to do with a particular video or picture! I just seen it. That's it. I saw a poop on a pavement yesterday. Does that mean FB will leave a fresh, solid feces on my doorstep every day now? I'm getting tired of this Big Brother stuff...
 
EVERY webserver tracks EVERY click it receives in the webserver access log file. What that click means (to the marketing MBA & execs) is only a matter of data mining that log.

Not all clicks however travel to the webserver, as some are consumed directly within the browser by Javascript to perform browser changes. Personally, I would have expected Flash to consume Full Screen toggling and Mute.
 
Good god - if I don't like it, comment on it, share it - that means I don't want to have anything further to do with a particular video or picture! I just seen it. That's it. I saw a poop on a pavement yesterday. Does that mean FB will leave a fresh, solid feces on my doorstep every day now? I'm getting tired of this Big Brother stuff...

We can only hope that someday FB is that sophisticated...:D
 
What about those of us that always has the volume at the top on the video because we use the OS sound volume instead? Guess I'm going to end up "liking" all the videos on Facebook now?
 
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