Facebook is getting into video in a big way.

And there may be some new opportunities for Youtubers and Video Podcasters. Facebook is a place where people are already consuming a lot of content. Images do well on Facebook and of course Video is very popular too. But what about Audio Podcasters? Is there any new opportunities for us audio content producers?

Is it true that Facebook is jumping on the video bandwagon? Or is it just conjecture?

6 developments that reveal Facebook is banking on video content:

1. Facebook favors video hosted on Facebook

Recently Facebook started favoring video that is uploaded directly to facebook vs video that is embedded from Youtube or Vimeo. This means that if you produce video for your Youtube Channel you shouldn’t embed the video anymore if you want to maximize your reach.

Facebook used to work well with Youtube. You post your video on Youtube and then share the video on your facebook wall. And that is it… your video would play right in facebook. And while it still does work this way Facebook isn’t going to give you as much love for using that strategy anymore.

2. Facebook is making major deals to distribute video content on Facebook.

Facebook struck a major deal with the NFL to distribute video clips from the National Football League with a sponsorship message from Verizon displayed beneath the video clip. A short Verizon Ad plays at the end of the video clip.

Facebook, like Yahoo and Twitter is looking for major video content deals in order to increase the advertising oportunities on the social network.

3. Facebook is courting Youtube’s top talent.

Facebook is trying to convince well established and successful Youtube stars to start uploading their content on facebook. And some of them are testing the waters over at Facebook to see what kind of exposure they can get. Facebook is a place where sharing and liking good content is the norm so increasing the virality of video content may be the motive for moving content over to Facebook.

4. Facebook introduces auto play feature in the news feed

Facebook videos now start playing automatically in the news feed. This decision demonstrates that video content is important to Facebook. Facebook also started showing the number of views a video has.

5. Facebook is introducing a new design of the Video Tab on facebook pages

Facebook is testing a new layout that features a large video at the top of the page with a comment feed beside the video allowing people to share their thoughts on the video as it plays. Page Admins will also be able to set up playlists just like on Youtube.

6. Facebook is acquiring video related businesses.

Facebook recently acquired QuickFire Video

QuickFire Video is a video compression company that allows videos to be converted to different formats faster and us less bandwidth when streamed or downloaded.

So as you can see Facebook is investing in video in a BIG way.

 Is this good for podcasters?

If you are a Video Podcaster the answer is undoubtedly yes!

Facebook isn’t looking for exclusivity or claiming ownership of your content (other than their standard terms of service). So if you upload your content into Facebook, you will be able to put it elsewhere as well. As a Video Podcaster you might as well make your show available on Facebook and take advantage of Facebooks unique advantage which is the sharability of content within the platform.

What about us Audio Podcasters?

You could do a number of things to take advantage of Facebook’s obsession with video.

1. Start recording short video versions of your podcast.
2. Record promos of each episode as video.
3. Use Easy Sketch Pro or Video Maker FX to produce explainer videos summarizing the content of each episode of your show.
4. Create supplementary video content and ask listeners to find it on Facebook, Youtube and your own website.
5. Turn your show notes into slideshare presentations and create SlideCasts to use on your Facebook video page.

If you have any other ideas on how an audio podcaster can benefit from Facebook’s new love of video leave them in the comments.

And who knows… maybe they will get equally excited about audio soon too. Facebook will allow SoundCloud and Libsyn audio players to play within Facebook. And they did add a new Podcast Category for Facebook Pages.

So you never know… maybe Facebook will decide to take on iTunes too!