Hear it. Share it. Facebook goes 'Shazam' with new TV, music feature.
Hear it. Share it.
That鈥檚 the idea behind Facebook鈥檚 newest technology, an optional feature that will listen to a snippet of whatever media you鈥檙e consuming and share a 30-second preview of it on your timeline. Facebook says the technology, which was developed in-house though it mimics the functionality of music-recognition app Shazam, allows users to share information faster than before. This comes on the heels of several optional new features to the social media site that indicate Facebook is nudging its users to share in more ways than ever before.
鈥淭oday, we鈥檙e making [conversations] quicker and easier by introducing a new way to share and discover music, TV and movies,鈥� writes Aryeh Selekman, product manager at Facebook,
鈥淲hen writing a status update 鈥� if you choose to turn the feature on 鈥� you鈥檒l have the option to use your phone鈥檚 microphone to identify what song is playing or what show or movie is on TV,鈥� he continues. 鈥淭hat means if you want to share that you鈥檙e listening to your favorite Beyonc茅 track or watching the season premiere of Game of Thrones, you can do it quickly and easily, without typing.鈥�
Here鈥檚 how it works. When you open the Facebook app on your mobile phone and go to create a status, you鈥檒l see a small smiley face. Hit that and you鈥檒l be able to enable or disable the feature. If you enable the feature, any time you go to create a status update, Facebook will automatically tune into your surroundings and listen for TV show or music audio to identify. Blue audio bars on the side of the status show what Facebook is picking up. Early of the service show that Facebook regularly can identify audio in less than 15 seconds, faster than many other music-recognition services.
Once it is on your status, friends can listen to a 30-second preview of the song on Spotify or watch a 30-second clip of a TV show or movie. This status update will show up in the same section as when you share feelings or activities alongside a typed message, such as 鈥渄rinking a coffee鈥� or 鈥渇eeling excited,鈥� a function Facebook says has been used more than 5 billion times.
What鈥檚 the difference between this and just typing out, 鈥淲atching: 鈥楪ame of Thrones鈥� 鈥� or 鈥淟istening to: Miley Cyrus鈥�? Mr. Selekman it adds another interactive dimension, which in turn may motivate more sharing.
鈥淲e want to help people tell better stories,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 hope there are people who love the feature and post more.鈥�
But with all of these applications, the trade off is sharing more data with a company that makes their money off targeted ads toward users based on data they have collected.
This move comes on the heels of several other initiatives that knit the digital and online world closer together on Facebook.
On Tuesday, Facebook released an 鈥淎sk鈥� button that allows people to inquire about the relationship status of Facebook friends who have previously not divulged that information. It also released an "I Voted" button that will prompt users to share whether or not they voted in a regional election. Last month, Facebook rolled out an optional mobile feature called 鈥淣earby Friends鈥� that lets users see what friends are in a given radius based on GPS location.
