We were recently chatting to another agency about why their Facebook timeline didn't autoplay (or silent play) their Facebook page video, whereas other videos from companies like Sony Pictures and Liverpool FC both played the video silently when it scrolled into view.
In a rush? For the answer why your video might not be autoplaying in the timeline, jump to the answer!
Background
Facebook announced in late 2013 that it would allow videos, from individuals and some pages, to automatically play silently when scrolled into view on their web and mobile application timelines.
Why is my Facebook page video not autoplaying in the timeline?
We noticed that a few videos did not autoplay in the timeline when uploaded from a Facebook page.
Answer: It did not play in the timeline because our Facebook page was not verified!
It appears that Facebook will only allow videos to autoplay silently on timelines if your page is verified, or if it feels that video should be played (see Facebook information about videos).
Facebook says that videos will start to autoplay videos from "Some Pages" like "entertainers and sports organizations". Essentially, you are going to need to be running a Facebook page that it deems appropriate to autoplay videos, or get your page verified.
How do I disable Facebook video autoplay?
A lot of users are concerned that playing video automatically, even though it is silent, will use their bandwidth and other users are just not interested in seeing videos.
Here is how to disable video autoplay in Facebook using the web app:
- In your browser, visit Facebook and go to the options drop down menu (usually top right, a small arrow)
- Choose "Settings" from the drop down menu
- Choose "Videos" from the settings menu
- Turn "Auto-play Videos" from "Default" (or "On") to "Off"
For mobile apps, follow these Facebook help instructions.
