YouTube to Add Offline Viewing for Videos on Mobile Devices

YouTube has announced that it will launch a new feature on its mobile apps enabling viewers to watch videos even when they are offline. This feature will be available from November for mobile users – do you think it is a good move for the video sharing site?

Image - www.theguardian.com

Currently YouTube does not allow users to download videos from its site, even though there are a number of third-party apps and browser extensions which are designed to let people do this. The new feature will let viewers add videos temporarily to their devices to store and watch, but only for a short period of time when they are not connected to the Internet.

The Official YouTube Partners & Creators Blog commented that this new feature came because “we’re always exploring ways to bring more viewers to your content. As part of this effort, later this year we’ll launch a new feature on YouTube’s mobile apps that will help reach fans – even when they’re not connected to the Internet”. This will allow fans to continue to listening to music when they previously wouldn't have been able to, for instance when they are on the morning commute. This suggests a move to increase engagement on its mobile devices and follows other developments introduced earlier in the year. For instance, in August it made it possible for people to browse and explore video recommendations while another video is already streaming on YouTube’s mobile apps.

In June 2012, YouTube began experimenting with offline viewing by allowing users to watch pre-cached videos in an update to its Android app. YouTube distinguished between the new feature allowing users to watch pre-cached videos and total downloading of videos because they required viewers to watch at least the first second of the video while they are online. There is also a distinction because with the new feature you will be able to watch videos without an Internet connection but you will not be able to keep them indefinitely. This seems to reflect the growing use of mobile devices to access social media, and the increase in new features specifically designed to complement smart phone use.

For now we will have to wait and see until the feature is released in November and further announcements are posted on the official YouTube Blog.

What do you think?

Would you use this new feature on YouTube? Do you already use a YouTube app on your mobile device?

How To Optimise Your Business’ Page For Facebook Mobile

Browsing Facebook on iOS and Android devices is one of the public’s most popular pastimes: the average smartphone owner spends 18% of the time on their device accessing Facebook, while in the UK alone mobile usage has increased by 22% in the last year.

As more and more people purchase tablet and smartphone devices, using them to access social media networks like Facebook, it becomes increasingly important for businesses, both big and small, to optimise their Facebook business pages for mobile devices.

If you are a business owner, don’t worry: optimizing your Facebook page for mobile devices is very easy. Just follow the three simple steps I have outlined below.

1. Make the most of the space

When optimising your Facebook page for mobile devices, the biggest concern is space. A severely truncated version of your business’ page for desktop devices appears on smartphones, missing the majority of the timeline, the iframes, the comments box and even some of the text from longer posts.

If you are trying to promote your business on mobile, try to use simple, eye-catching pictures and snappy, concise text. Of course, you need to make sure that the stuff you are posting on your page with mobile devices in mind won’t look terrible on desktop devices.

If you want a post to stand out you can pin it to the top of your page. Pinned posts appear beneath a page’s profile picture, cover photo and calls to action, so they are on a user’s screen as soon as they visit the page. Pinning posts is an easy and effective way to ensure that the content you want to get seen is seen.

2. Make the most of the features

It is extremely important that all the information on your page is correct, especially the address information because, using Facebook’s Local Search feature, potential customers and clients are able to find and visit your business.

All Facebook business pages feature call to action buttons, visibly displayed beneath the cover photo. On mobile devices, local business pages with a fixed address (as opposed to the pages of larger corporations and brands) feature a ‘Like’, a ‘Check In’ and a ‘Call’ button. Try to encourage customers and clients to check in or like your business when they visit by displaying clear signage which gives them information and specific instructions on how to find your page. The more people like and check in on your business’ page, the more people will discover your business – also, it will improve the interaction stats on your page.

Beneath the interaction stats are photos. In the case of local businesses, there are two photo tabs: one for photos taken in the location and one for photos posted by the page administrators. Post photos of you and your colleagues enjoying themselves in your business and encourage customers and clients to do the same – people are more likely to visit businesses where people have fun.

3. Use the Page Manager app

You should not only be optimising your page for Facebook Mobile, you should also be optimising your page on Facebook Mobile.

The Facebook Page Manager app is a great tool for page administrators who cannot always access Facebook from a desktop device. On the app, you can post updates and photos, respond to comments, access and send messages, set up notifications and view your Page Insights.

The newest version of the app even allows admins to apply Instagram filters to their photos before posting them and add stickers to messages.

How do you encourage people to like and check in on your business’ page?

Will Sigsworth