Facebook has announced plans for more changes to their influential social media site, and after wide outcry over the most recent page changes, users are bracing for future adjustments to the site’s layout and features. The social media giant has now publicized plans to create a space for streaming music sharing and platform connection on the site.
In an announcement made Thursday, Facebook detailed plans to allow users to connect to a music service of their choice, to share their current listening via a “ticker” feed, and for friends to connect to the same service for real-time listening.
“The key to music isn’t blocking songs, it’s to discovering more music than you’d ever thought you wanted to buy—through you friends,” said Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
Unlike other service who have built their own cloud-based music platform, Facebook has decided to integrate existing music streaming services. Users will now be able to choose to “listen with” a friend. Clicking that option will link both users to the same music platform, for synchronized real-time sharing. It will also create chat space for discussion.
Anticipation of this announcement stems back to May when Forbes announced partnership between Facebook and the European music-streaming company Spotify.
Rumors of the change intensified in July after software engineer and researcher Jeff Rose discovered string of code referencing a service called “Vibes,” reports ZDNet. Thursday’s announcement puts months of speculation to rest.
Streaming and sharing abilities will also extend into video services like Netflix and Hulu. For a complete report on all of Facebook’s newest features, have a look at CNET’s live blog of the company’s announcement at the F8 Developer’s Conference in San Francisco.
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