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Instagram has changed its video settings so that videos automatically loop on the user feed.
Unfortunately, Instagram has also opted to set the video clips to autoplay, which could rack up significant added data usage over an entire month.
Advertisers will, of course, be pleasantly surprised with the move, as autoplaying, looping videos are about as good as it gets for socially shared promotional footage.
Facebook’s Instagram launched a video ad service back in October, although it was met with plenty of criticism from those who were loath to see their video feeds filled with arguably unwanted content.
There is still an option to set Instagram to only pre-load videos on Wi-Fi, but it’s not on by default and can’t disable autoplay.
Related: Facebook earnings call reveals 1.39bn active users
What this does mean however, is that Instagram is now much closer to its Twitter-owned video rival Vine.
This bitter rivalry was further entrenched when Twitter began sending out prompts to its top users encouraging them to ditch Instagram as a way to share photos.
Instagram currently boasts 300 million users, edging out over Twitter’s slightly less formidable 284 million.
Ev Williams, co-founder of Twitter, was famously quoted as saying: “I frankly don’t give a shit if Instagram has more people looking at pretty pictures.”
