When I first heard about facebook’s “secret videos” my eyes widened and my mind wondered. I imagined a hidden playlist of videos buried somewhere deep in a part of facebook long forgotten by civilization. “they could be anything,” I thought to myself – they could be leaked videos of mark zuckerberg creating the social platform or secret “how-to” videos for someone to unlock the hidden treasures of facebook!
The reality, however, was less indiana jones-ish then I had hoped. Facebook secret videos are a part of the platform’s updates for businesses to better manage and organize the videos on their page. Secret videos allow for anyone to upload video content to their page without having to post the content to their timeline or have them visible in their video library. This is very similar to uploading an “unlisted” video in youtube.
While this might seem like a small or insignificant update
Admins can now share videos privately with a direct url or embed the videos on another site.
In the rest of my blog today, I’ll walk you through the step-by-step process to uploading a secret video and how to embed that video on a website.
How to create a secret video
The first thing you’ll want to do is get to the right place on your facebook profile. In the top bar click “publishing tools.” this area will let you see some of the basic performance data on your most recent posts. Once there, locate the “video library” tab on the left side of the screen.
The “video library” section is also list of phone number another one of facebook’s platform updates. This section allows page admins to monitor and review the performance of the video content on their profile. Once you’re here, click the “upload” button in the top right corner of the screen.
This will bring up the screen to upload and post a video. I’ve chosen an animated video I created about the importance of content marketing for this example. Once the video has been completely uploaded, give it a title. You can also give it a description if you’d like (it’s optional). Instead of “publishing” the video, you’ll want to click the “advanced” tab.
The next step in posting a secret video is deciding how to distribute the video
In this area, you have a few options. If the video is recorded in 360 you can choose this option here. But for this example, we want to choose India Lead the drop-down under the “distribution” area.
In the drop-down menu, you’ll want to choose the “custom” option. This will bring up more options to manage the distribution of your video. Check the box labeled “add as secret video.” listed in the summary below, you can see that choosing this option will make the video unpublished and non-searchable. People who view the video will not be able to like, comment, or share unless you un-check the box labeled “block social actions.
Once you’ve pressed “publish” the video will begin to process. In the “video library” area, you’ll be able to see the finished secret video. This will be the only area that the video will be accessible to page administrators.
