Facebook has announced a number of major upgrades to your videos today. Some of them are welcome, and others are not that much.
Let's first say the not so good news: Facebook will start supporting automatic audio playback on videos, so you will have to prepare for unwanted noises.
In his Facebook memo, he says he has heard positive feedback since the trials he has made, and has decided to release the feature for everyone. The sound will fade as you scroll through your news feed, and it will not play at all if your phone is in silent mode.
Most importantly, you can disable the feature from your app's "video with sound in News Feed" setting.
The rest of the changes are less controversial. Vertical videos will occupy much of your screen on Android and iOS devices.
You will also now be able to activate a picture-in-picture mode to minimize a video window and continue scrolling in your News Feed while watching a video that caught your attention.
The videos will be like Facebook's chat. You will be able to see them at some corner of your screen while you are continuing your tour. If you're an Android user, you'll be able to keep watching the video even after you've left the Facebook app. Please note that this feature does not even have the official YouTube application.
Finally, Facebook announced that it will soon release a video app for Apple TV, Amazon Fire and Samsung Smart TV, followed by other platforms.
George is still wondering what he is doing here….
