Facebook thinks video will be as big as mobile, as it moves to become ‘video first’

Facebook is setting its sights on becoming “video first”.

The mission echoes the giant social network’s focus in 2012 on “mobile first”, when Facebook was having trouble making the leap from desktops to mobile devices.

In this case, Facebook is looking to catch the next content wave. In the beginning on Facebook, there was text. Then images spread throughout the News Feed. Now Facebook says video will soon consume the lion’s share of attention of its 1.7 billion users. And it’s making aggressive moves to get people to make and view more video, whether from friends and family or from professionals.

Facebook Live, the popular new app that makes it easy to shoot streaming video on mobile devices, is a big step in that direction. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently noted that the Facebook Live video from Candace Payne, whose peals of infectious laughter as she tried on an electronic Chewbacca mask made her an overnight internet sensation, has been viewed more than 160 million times.

Facebook is also dangling incentives to get media and entertainment professionals to crank out more video.