Autoplaying videos on Facebook have always started with their sound muted unless a user clicks or taps on them. When autoplaying videos rolled out three years ago this made total sense. Sound would annoy users, and seeing video on the News Feed would be a terrible thing. It still makes total sense. So, we are now wondering why Facebook is testing autoplaying videos with their sound on.
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According to a recent report by Mashable, Facebook is currently testing autoplaying video with sound on its mobile apps in Australia. And apparently the sound only comes on if the user has their sound activated on their device. So, if your phone is muted, sound will not play. And that’s great! Another group of users are seeing a mute/unmute button on one corner of the video. A Facebook spokesperson confirmed latter to Mashable Australia,
[quote]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. 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.[/quote]
Video has become a huge part of content on Facebook, whether it’s live or prerecorded. It’s currently the most engaging form of content on the platform, and so Facebook should be protecting its ability to show it to people and not annoy them. So, I wouldn’t imagine that the company will turn sound on by default. Either way, it seems like the test is more about seeing how many users would be open to such an eventuality.
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