If you and your fiancé are miles away from each other, would you rather communicate with each other by text or by video?
Text content relies on precise word choice and it takes much effort by using emoticons to establish the right tone.
With video, we first read someone’s face features but also body language and verbal tone play a huge role in conveying a message.
Is it any surprise to you that social media platforms are bending over backwards to make it to the top with video?
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Instagram’s live stories
The last one to ride this wave is Instagram which recently introduced a new feature wherein it lets users join live streaming stories with their friends.
How? By simply sending a request. Say Hi!
Gadgets now, a platform for technology news, explains how the new feature works: “All they need to do is to send a request while watching the live video using a button in the comments section. As soon as the live video host accepts the request, the user will become a part of the live story. The screen will split in half showing both the users. Users can leave the live video at any time.”
Instagram’s video efforts do not stop here.
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The social media platform will also launch the stop-motion camera feature, which is currently in testing. This feature allows users to take a series of photos (but not edit them), and then assemble them into a video that they share in a live video conversation.
Instagram is a progressive platform – it recently supported Arabic.
This software update is important for many Arabic native speakers worldwide, who have an opportunity to photo share in a format they understand.
Today, Instagram has more than 800 million monthly active users (MAUs), 500 million daily active users (DAUs) and 300 million daily users of stories, according to a study by marketing agency mediakix, released on November 2nd.
But how’s the fight for streaming shaping up?
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It all started with facebook
A study released on LinkedIn in 2015 by Biljana Lukovic tells how Facebook began testing new video features for fans pages in 2013 which initiates the question: “Why are videos becoming so important in social media?”
“Facebook actually gave a brilliant definition what videos can become for business fan pages: “richer storytelling format for advertisers.”” She said.
Facebook has, in August 2017, revamped its video offering, creating a new, TV-like rival to YouTube and dabbling in original content in a bid to get people to spend even more time on the social network, as reported by the Guardian.
“The Facebook feature, dubbed Watch, will let users discover videos from outside of their feed more easily, create watchlists, and have an easier way to follow shows created by artists, brands and publishers,” it said.
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Also, AdEspresso, a solution to manage Facebook Ads, revealed this month that Facebook is launching its own app for video creators to directly manage their channels from the platform.
Facebook’s Creators app is designed to make it easier for creators to manage their video channels on Facebook and therefore more likely that creators will upload videos to the social network.
“Creators can use the Facebook Creators app to up the production quality of their live videos, manage comments and messages from viewers, post Stories across Facebook and Instagram at the same time and analyze their videos’ performances,” it explained.
LinkedIn’s awakening
Not to be left in the dark, LinkedIn finally recognized the need to revamp its services in this direction by recently unveiling its very own video strategy, under which users can upload a video to the site via LinkedIn’s iOS or Android mobile app.
Ali Matar, Head of LinkedIn Talent Solutions, EMEA, Emerging Markets, Middle East & North Africa, told AMEinfo’s sister publication TRENDS: “LinkedIn has launched its new feature called LinkedIn Video. Cashing upon the power of a video as a possible tool of introduction for job seekers, LinkedIn has launched this feature wherein the members can shoot a short introduction video of themselves and upload or share it for reaching out to potential employers.”
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“We are hoping this will change the way candidates have been approaching employers for many years. We might soon have some big announcements to make in enhancing the recruitment process further,” Matar adds.
But why is video communication that important?
We are visual beings
Lukovic reveals in her study that researches prove that we are visual beings and we like to watch, regardless if it is an image or video – just to be as visual as possible. “Simply, we memorize and learn things faster this way,” she said.
“It was proven that 90 per cent of information transmitted to the brain is VISUAL and that our brain processes such information 60,000 times faster and more effectively than text,” she said.
The post The drive for streaming live- Which social media is winning? appeared first on AMEInfo.