Successfully launched IRL last week, a Melbourne based event that will be held once a month and screen local web series. Our aim is to provide a community and platform for emerging creators. www.webseriesirl.com
We screened episodes of our own web series, i can’t even., plus Chris and Josh and These New South Whales, followed by a discussion on the medium of web series itself.
There were a few interesting topic points that I might talk about in a later post, but at the moment I’ve been thinking a lot about our discussion around Facebook video vs Youtube.
To me, I’ve always valued Youtube views over Facebook. Sure, it’s no question that fb videos get way more views, but I generally don’t believe those figures. Fb’s algorithm and its auto-play mean that yes, someone has scrolled past and seen your video for maybe 5 seconds, but the majority of people haven’t actually watched the video or engaged with the content. I think in a way it’s deciding what’s more important to you: views or audience engagement? Not to say they’re mutually exclusive, but if I see a video has 1,000 views on Youtube, I’m going to respect that more than 1,000 on Facebook, because I know that figure is a more accurate reflection of the people who watched it then compared to fb.
However, with the integration of fb video and making Youtube links harder to share, it seems foolish for small time creators to ignore the possibility of reaching a broader audience by uploading to fb. What’s the solution, splitting views and uploading to both platforms, or choosing only one? For now, I’m not sure.
Would love to hear others’ thoughts! (nudge @betwixtproductions @wordsfromwilde @discordiaproductions)