The social networking mogul Facebook took over the video startup QuickFire. The acquisition was officially announced on the QuickFire website. In case you missed it, here are the details and what we know so far.
What is QuickFire?
In the words of Craig Y. Lee, QuickFire CEO, “QuickFire Networks was founded on the premise that the current network infrastructure is not sufficient to support the massive consumption of online video without compromising video quality. QuickFire Networks solves this capacity problem via proprietary technology that dramatically reduces the bandwidth needed to view video online without degrading video quality.”
The founder of the San Diego based company is “thrilled to help deliver high quality video experiences to all the people who consume video on Facebook”.
Why is Facebook Interested?
Coincidentally, the announcement comes days after Facebook declared that they average more than one billion video views every day. Video is now an essential part of the Facebook experience. Think about the #IceBucketChallenge, a viral campaign that saw 2.4 million related videos on Facebook. There is a lot of power behind such explosive campaigns that take over the online community and Zuckerberg’s team is ready to make the most of it.
So why is Facebook interested in QuickFire? For one, videos present a great opportunity to increase their revenue as well as make profits from advertising. A recent tweak in the Facebook algorithm means that the more videos you watch, the more of them will appear on your News Feed. Facebook aims to convince users to upload videos directly to the networking site instead of uploading them on to YouTube first, and then sharing the link on Facebook. By bypassing the middleman, Facebook ensures that they have control over what you watch and, of course, what ads you see.
Secondly, video is obviously a great new gap in the social media arena. Facebook wants to hold the competitive edge for as long as they can. With YouTube courting top creative talent and Twitter developing a video product of their own, it is clear that Facebook has taken a step forward to address this new trend by ensuring they have the technology they need.
What Does That Mean For Us?
There are two major implications for the user side of this acquisition. For one, we expect to see more videos on our News Feeds, from both friends and brands.
From a business and advertiser point of view, we can see this acquisition majorly changing the way we use Facebook for outreach. In terms of advertising, it will now be much more complex, much more engaging and targeted and, presumably, much more expensive.
We look forward to see what Facebook, QuickFire and the future have in store for us!
This guest article was written by InTouch CRM Content and Digital Marketing Executive Didi Zheleva.
