Yesterday, Jennifer Slegg posted on Twitter and her site that Google is auto-playing videos directly in the search results. I will be honest, I thought there was some extension or plugin to blame for it and that there was no way Google would even test auto-playing videos in the search results. I was wrong! Google, of all companies, was testing auto-playing videos in the core search results.
I wasn't the only one who was skeptical, former Googler Pedro Dias was really upset that Google would test such a thing:
If they decide to go with autoplay, I'm gonna be really annoyed
— Pedro Dias (@pedrodias) July 24, 2017
Why, well, Google Chrome is building ways to block such distractions and annoyances:
Yeah! Even more considering they built an autoplay blocking feature in Chrome
— Pedro Dias (@pedrodias) July 24, 2017
Google told Search Engine Land that this is indeed a confirmed but limited test saying "we are constantly experimenting with ways to improve the search experience for our users, but have no plans to announce at this time."
Googler Satyajeet Salgar said on Twitter:
...still an experiment.
— Satyajeet Salgar (@salgar) July 25, 2017
I think this would be a really bad idea, with the exception of someone going to Google and tying in [auto play game of thrones] or something with the qualifier to play a specific movie or video or song.
Again, I know many Googlers who would think this would be not just bad for the user but incredibly hypocritical to their values.
Forum discussion at Twitter.
