Facebook introduced it in 2013, and now Twitter also wants to reap the benefits of auto-play by testing it on some of its videos. Initially Twitter is testing this limitedly; those in the US with iPhones and iPads will begin to see some videos play automatically on their newsfeeds. Similar to Facebook, the video will play without sound until the user decides to press ‘play’, introducing sound and a larger screen.

Twitter wants to determine whether people are more likely to actively click play and decide to watch a video, or if they would pay more attention to a video that they see playing automatically as they scroll through their feed.

The company’s testing doesn’t apply to all types of videos uploaded to Twitter. Videos from the 6-second video app created by Twitter and Vine videos will not be trialed for autoplay. The testing will however apply to promoted videos from the site’s Amplify program that is used by companies to distribute their videos to audiences outside of their following on Twitter.

When it comes to counting views, Facebook considers a video viewed after it has played for 3 seconds. So far Twitter counts a video as viewed once the play button is clicked. If a video ad is eye-catching, a viewer is more likely to have their attention grabbed and to continue watching a video once they see it playing. But of course you knew that right?

Try it out for yourself. Create a free video ad at viddyad.com today and post to Twitter.