As the world"s most popular search engine, Google has been one of the most dominating forces on the internet, but that certainly does not mean that it has stagnated. After testing a similar feature for a select number of users, the corporation is planning to add auto-playing videos to search results on its website which will, thankfully, be automatically muted.
The Verge reports that the feature has been brought on in order to enhance the video results to user queries. This might be a little annoying or convenient to users, depending on what they are looking for; the company will have to strike the perfect balance between the two to avoid criticism. It seems that the functionality will begin rolling out on Google"s own OS, Android, in the US. The firm intends to expand its reach to more countries as well as other platforms, presumably iOS followed by PC.
The move can be seen as an evolutionary next step to its "test" feature that started auto-playing a video on the right side of its results, especially if the query had a video component such as a music video or an upcoming movie. Unsurprisingly, the previews primarily consist of YouTube videos, but Google maintains that a "wide variety” of other providers are supported. The feature will work exclusively on Wi-Fi connections to save your data. Users will also be able to disable the feature from the Google app settings.
Source: Google via The Verge | Image via: TheSEMPost