There’s no denying that video is the present and future of social media content. And now, Twitter has just announced its latest feature- that it will be launching autoplay on all videos shown in the home feed. 

The platform’s intention is to create “a more seamless video experience” for each user, with Vines and YouTube content, for instance, all playing automatically. Going forward, when a user scrolls through Timeline, he or she will see videos that play while the sound is muted, and be able to expand the screen if desired. Videos will also appear larger in Timeline, hopefully enhancing our viewing experience too. Autoplay can be disabled too if necessary, especially if we don’t want it eating away at our battery life, or into our data allowance. Ordinary users will be allowed to create videos up to 30 seconds long, while marketers will be given up to 10 minutes. Each video will also include 6 seconds of autoplay at the beginning, showcasing a captivating preview of what’s to come if the user decides to click and watch.

For brands, native videos set on autoplay should hopefully attract greater user interest. Twitter’s new feature will surely encourage businesses to pay for promoted videos too, given the promise of autoplay and a larger format. And Twitter has already proven to its partners that this layout has the potential to generate higher engagement and viewing rates, finding that viewers are 2.5 times more likely to prefer autoplay over other viewing methods. The other draw for brands is Twitter’s announcement that it will start operating a new “pay per view” charging system, only charging advertisers for views when the video has been watched for at least 3 seconds, and it is “100% in view on the user’s device”. And we can see why Twitter is intent on making a success of its new feature- 90% of its revenue relies on advertising, so if it can make video a desirable part of the site, there’s greater reason for brands to invest.

While the results suggest good news for Twitter and advertisers, we can’t help think that we would be inclined to simply switch off the autoplay function, due to a number of factors such as a reduction in battery life, and sheer annoyance. But Twitter have certainly made a strong case for this new feature, determined to get advertisers back on board after poor first quarter figures. The site has also announced in conjunction with this update, that it is in talks with third party vendors in order to give brands specific insights into how their videos are performing, whether they are reaching their target audiences, and if their brand message is being received. And if Facebook’s success with autoplay is anything to go by- (the site has enabled this since 2013), then we don’t see why Twitter should encounter any problems.

What do you think about Twitter’s news? Do you think it will be a helpful marketing feature for brands and enrich the user experience, or simply be an annoyance? We’d love to hear your thoughts, so please tweet to us @PracticeDigital and share your comments on our Facebook page.