Facebook wants to appeal everyone, and that includes teens.
With Lifestage, it has made attempts to make them happy but things didn't go well as the social giant has expected. Lifestage has struggled ever since it was born.
But that failure is not stopping Facebook in following the next similar idea. The company has launched 'Watch', a video-streaming service that is meant to host series of live and short pre-recorded videos, including some original and professionally made contents.
This will make it, again, compete with the likes of YouTube, Netflix and traditional TV channels.
But with Watch, Facebook changed its focus a bit. Instead of just aiming for teens, Watch targets a wider audience.
Facebook has learned that its own product competing with Snapchat which was already more popular among teens, was not a very good idea. Snapchat was the hype, and it was especially popular among teenagers. Lifestage has never achieved the user number necessary to sustain its existence. But with Watch, it's a like a spin-off with a tweak of strategy.
As the social media industry continues to expand, competition gets fiercer. Numerous newly established companies are trying to catch up and getting the attention they need to survive, but only a small of them really get what they want.
Facebook is one of the giants that succeed in putting most others in the competition aside. It's the social media of all social medias. But still, it lacks some of things from its competitors.
Facebook started copying features from others, blatantly claiming as its own. It has copied Snapchat more than plenty of times. But no longer Facebook or Snapchat hold a monopoly on the industry. Most teens tend to experiment on new things and trends.
Short videos and disappearing messages, to anonymous feedback apps and more.
For that matter, Facebook wants to keep up by introducing new formats and ways for them to interact.
Facebook that has the advantages that most don't, actually fired back a bit. For example, the social media is the world's most popular platform with more than 2 billion users. While Snapchat on the other hand, is popular among teens, but so is Instagram that Facebook's.
But the problem for Facebook is it's popularity means that teenagers and their parents, teachers and all others also users of the platform. For teens, this means that Facebook cannot be the place where they can really expose themselves without limits. Facebook can be a place where competition and conflicting social obligations, with various aspects and contexts of their life coming all into one space.
So this is where Watch takes its role. Watch targets a larger audience which suggests that Facebook has learnt its lessons. The service is meant to appeal people, rather than aiming users to share contents or ideas.
With the announcement of Watch, Facebook has put out a call for "community orientated" original shows. It is also providing users with video recommendations based on what others and friends are watching. This way, Facebook Watch will allow users to find content that reflects their interests and friendships.
This is like Facebook's move to expand its reach from just being a pure social networking platform, towards a broader goal and then into a one-stop hub for everything people need on the internet. Just like anything on Facebook, with Watch, users won't need to leave Facebook's walled garden and can view both content embedded from around the web and original videos hosted on the site.
For those with privacy concerns, Facebook is also increasingly aware that user interaction is the key to deliver better advertisements. By having everything it has inside its 'wall', Facebook can always keep an eye on everything its users do and don't do.
