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World in motion

Do Facebook's auto-play videos annoy you? Too bad as you'll be seeing a lot more of them

Also, a views counter showing how many times a video has been viewed will begin appearing later this week.

REMEMBER HOW YOUR feed was full to the brim with videos of friends (and friends of friends) doing the ice bucket challenge?

Chances are there are still a number of videos doing the rounds, but if you think that was only a blip, then you may want to prepare yourself for more videos appearing in your news feed over the coming months.

According to Facebook, there have been an average of more than 1 billion video views on the service every day, with 65% happening on mobile.

Most of that would have been down to auto-play videos, but it’s enough for the company to start adding more features to increase video views even further.

Facebook autoplay videos Facebook Facebook

Starting this week, any video that is posted publicly will now come with its own view counter showing how popular it is.

Also, another feature it’s testing is the ability to be presented with related videos, similar to how multiple articles appear whenever you select one directly from the site or app. In short, this means that more auto-play videos will begin appearing in your feed over the coming weeks and months.

The company has made no secret of its desire to tap into video advertising, and the traction its auto-play videos have received in recent weeks will have helped out.

Thankfully, you can turn off the auto-play function on the app so you don’t end up with any nasty phone bills.

Read: If Facebook’s auto-play videos are bothering you, here’s how you can switch them off >

Read: Google agrees to refund $19 million to parents for unwanted in-app purchases >

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