'Build vibrant communities:' Facebook to let content creators earn money from short videos

Facebook Inc., on March 11, said that it would now allow content creators to earn money from short-form videos via advertisements. Previously, Facebook allowed creators to earn advertising revenues from videos that were a minimum of three minutes. The latest announcement comes as the Mark Zuckerberg-led firm faces tough competition from Snapchat and Twitter, both of which recently announced lucrative rewards for online content creators.  

"We want them to have the tools and support they need to earn money and thrive, whether creating and sharing content is a primary business, one of many revenue streams, or a lifeline that’s kept their business afloat during the pandemic," the company said in an online statement. 

Detailing its plan in a blog post, the social media giant said that creators could now earn ad revenue from the video as short as one minute. Additionally, it also revealed that Facebook was, presently, testing ‘ads that look like stickers’ which could be used by creators in their Facebook stories to earn money. As per the update, more creators can now qualify to earn ad revenue from live-streaming videos on Facebook, previously an invite-only program.

"Video creators can now earn money from videos as short as one minute long, with a minimally interruptive ad running at 30 seconds. For videos three minutes or longer, an ad can be shown 45 seconds in. Previously only three-minute or longer videos could monetize with in-stream ads, with an ad shown no earlier than 1 minute."

'Facebook stars' 

Additionally, the California-based firm said that this would give away $7 million in what is termed as ‘Facebook stars’ to users. These special stars could then be used by Facebookers to tip their favorite creators during Facebook Lives. Earlier, Snapchat announced that it was paying a whopping amount of $1 million per day to creators making viral videos. In a similar move, Twitter also announced the launch of the ‘Super Follower’ feature allowing creators to charge users for exclusive content.  

Facebook stars, image: Facebook 

Meanwhile, in another attempt to promote creativity, Facebook recently launched a new app for people to aspire to become rappers. The App is called BARS and is under a closed beta right now. Read on know what is Facebook BARS. Facebook has come up with an app that lets amateur rappers and aspiring rap artists flex their creative muscles. The new app is called BARS. The app is available on iOS devices under a closed beta and the core function of this app is to allow aspiring rappers to come up with their own beats and sounds with a little bit of help from the app. The app will also serve as a platform to browse different rap videos from creators.