Facebook for iOS Testing Autoplay Videos with Sound

Facebook users in Australia have been among the first to test Facebook’s upcoming new “feature”, autoplay videos, inserted in their news feed. The difference is that those videos now play with sound.

Facebook

Mashable reports that, starting Tuesday, some Australian Facebook users will notice that ads and Facebook Live will act differently on their mobile app. The social media giant will use Australia as a testing ground for their upcoming feature, hence there will be two versions live at once, one with sound playing immediately as the video begins, and the second with the option to turn on sound using an icon located in the bottom-right of the videos.

“We’re running a small test in News Feed where people can choose whether they want to watch videos with sound on from the start,” a Facebook spokesperson told Mashable Australia. “For people in this test who do not want sound to play, they can switch it off in Settings or directly on the video itself.

“This is one of several tests we’re running as we work to improve the video experience for people on Facebook.”

Both groups will be informed about the controls they have. The sound will play, of course, if the volume is up, but you can choose to turn it off in Facebook settings by choosing “always off”.

This is quite an interesting test session, as Facebook’s internal research has shown that 80% of people react negatively when a video ad starts playing loudly without warning.

A Digiday report cited by Mashable says that up to 85% of video views on Facebook are without sound, as silence has been the norm so far both on Facebook and Twitter. Are you ready to experience Auto-play Videos with sound?

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