Using Video on Facebook for News Reporting

Now more than ever, the use of video is an important and essential tool for news reporting. It offers journalists an engaging, memorable and dynamic format that can inform and entertain people.

On Facebook, newsrooms have the choice to share their reporting via links to their articles or by posting videos. If you decide to post videos on the platform, Facebook gives you the option to do so by going live or by uploading pre-produced video. We will focus on the latter: how newsrooms can upload to Facebook pre-produced video to make it available to their followers at any time as Video On-Demand.

From existing news segments originally produced for television or web to an original video series being developed specifically for consumption on social media, there’s a wide variety of video content that newsrooms can consider uploading to Facebook.

Here are a few ideas:

On Facebook, newsrooms have the option to upload short or long-form video content. Depending on your business objectives, one format may be better suited for what you are trying to accomplish over the other - or perhaps a social content strategy that is a combination of the 2 formats may help you reach your goals.

A video clip is considered short-form content on Facebook if it’s less than 3 minutes in length. Newsrooms may choose to use this “snackable” format if they want to build awareness of and drive engagement around their content. These shorter clips may also be easier to produce.

Long-form videos on Facebook are characterized by being at least 3 minutes in length. Use this format especially for recurring formats - such as explainers - and episodic content - such as a documentary series - in order to drive proactive viewing.