Facebook to introduce Instant videos, a feature that allows you to watch videos offline

Due to data prices in Zimbabwe, whatever online thing that can be done offline excites me; even better when it involves something I use often, in this case Facebook.

Facebook is testing out an Instant videos feature which it has currently rolled out to a few Android users. The feature is meant to allow users to watch Facebook videos when they are offline or when experiencing slow connection. One will be able to load videos on WiFi spots, then go ahead and watch them anywhere else without depleting any more of their mobile data.

The ‘Instant’ videos which basically means the pre-loaded video, will be identified using the lightning bolt icon.

This initiative is good, not only for content consumers but for content creators as well. I mean what does it profit a content creator to create something that will not be watched?? Considering that video is much more engaging (well, still subjective but…), it would be viable for content creators to disseminate their content in video format with less fear of people not watching due to costs constraints.

Most people don’t watch as much Facebook videos when on mobile data as when on wifi (obviously).  But then again, when on WiFi, the things to watch can get overwhelming; so much that you don’t get the chance to watch most of the videos. However, with this feature you can ‘save for offline viewing’ and therefore be less hurried in your watching.

It still doesn’t put content creators at a disadvantage in terms of views, since probably the views will be saved on the phone then uploaded once the user has internet connection again.

This creates better chances for the content uploaded onto the Facebook platform to be watched and as such be assigned value, which is of course good for Facebook especially in it’s advertisements endeavours. It increases the guarantee of advertisers to reach more audience.