Social previews and thumbnails
A VideoBB link shows a card with the thumbnail, title and description. Learn how to change the thumbnail and why old cards can linger.
When you paste a VideoBB link into a social app or chat, it shows a preview card with the thumbnail, title and description. The card is built from tags on the watch page. You control what it shows through the video's details in the studio.
What makes up the preview card
| Part of the card | Where it comes from |
|---|---|
| Image | The video's thumbnail |
| Title | The video's title |
| Text | The start of the video's description |
| Player | For public videos that allow embedding, apps that support it can play the video inside the card |
Every watch page carries Open Graph and Twitter card tags, which social apps read. Public videos also carry VideoObject structured data, which tells search engines the title, thumbnail and length.
Change the thumbnail
- Open the video's page in your studio.
- Under Thumbnail, pick one of the three frames VideoBB took from different points in the video.
- Or upload your own 16:9 image. It is resized to 1280×720 and saved as WebP, with smaller copies for video grids.
- Press Save changes.
A thumbnail that works on a small card
- Use a 16:9 image so nothing important gets cropped.
- Show one clear face or subject, large and in focus.
- Use three or four big words at most, or none.
- Check it at phone size before you save.
Our guide to video thumbnails that get clicks has more examples.
Write a title and description for the card
Most cards show the title and only the start of the description. Put the main point in the first sentence. Keep the title short and specific so it is not cut off.
Why the old image still shows
Social apps keep their own copy of a card for a while. After you change the thumbnail or title, the old card can linger. New shares usually pick up the change later, and some platforms offer a tool to refresh their copy.
Private and unlisted videos
A private video cannot be opened by others, so apps cannot build a card for it. Unlisted links still show a card for anyone you send them to. Read share links and start times for who can open each kind of link.