Thunderbolt Digital is a Farnham based company specialising in Surrey web design, because of this we’re always looking out for the latest news in web design and SEO. Today’s news comes from social media icon, Facebook, who have removed the ability to embed links into videos. What does this change mean for companies and content creators alike?
The change was implemented earlier this month without being formally announced. It had offered a CTA (Call to Action) for companies and creators to help steer some of Facebook’s 1.65 billion monthly user base towards their own websites.
This affects news companies the most. It had become customary for a short clip to be posted on Facebook, which would outline the story, with further details being included in an attached article. Now that this feature has been scrapped, what does this mean for the 28% of us that now depend on social media for news?
As a prominent user, BBC News was one of the first to notice its removal; they then contacted Facebook directly:
“After considering a number of factors, we have removed the option to add a CTA to the end of native video,” stated a Facebook spokesperson.
The change has incentives for Facebook; it keeps users on their site and therefore companies have to do the same if they want to access its large user pool. This in turn promises increased ad revenue, the driving force behind the continued growth the site has experienced.
Nevertheless, as fans of good web design, we could see little reason to remove such an attractive feature from the versatile social media platform, however creators, companies and news broadcasters need not despair! Video creators can still include a link in the text under a video. Furthermore, Facebook have promised to reintroduce this feature within the following months. So, does this change affect you?