Facebook is good for discovering the latest news about your friends and family, but what about music? As part of its f8 developer conference today, the social-networking site teamed up with a number of online music sites to bring music discovery to Facebook.
Music companies like Spotify, Rdio, and Slacker will be offering their own apps, which will allow you to share what you're listening to with friends on Facebook. Their music choices will also show up on your news feed, and you can listen to the songs right inside Facebook.
"You'll now start seeing new music posts and play buttons all over your newsfeeds. Hit a play button and the music starts. Right there," Spotify said in a blog post. "Spotify fires up to give you a new soundtrack to your social life. Check out your new Music Dashboard and your real-time ticker to discover the music that's trending with your friends."
In a screen shot posted by Spotify, there is a "Music" option under the "Apps" tab on the left-hand bar, which lists all the music services with which you've integrated. A "Top Songs" bar on the top right brings you right to favorite selections.
Spotify's Facebook Page now includes a "Download App" button. See the video below for more.
In a statement, Rdio CEO Drew Larner said his company was "built from the ground up as a social service, so this integration is a natural fit for us."
If you're not a member of a service like Rdio, linking up with Facebook automatically creates an Rdio account. In Rdio's case, users get a free trial to Rdio Unlimited, and users will soon get ad-free access to its 11 million songs.
Slacker, meanwhile, said the Facebook integration is a "new way for people to connect around listening to music." To promote the deal, Slacker launched "100 Days to Get Personal," a program that will offer up prizes for connecting to Slacker on Facebook, including meet-and-greets with artists like Trace Adkins and Katy Perry, as well as gadgets like HDTVs, and free trips.
To win, add Slacker Radio to a Facebook Timeline and enter the "100 Days to Get Personal" promotion from the Slacker Facebook page.
Also joining the Facebook music effort is Deezer, a company with a large presence in France and the U.K., Clear Channel's iHeartRadio, and Vevo, a YouTube- and Universal-backed video site, which said it will be the only music video partner on the project.
Also today, Facebook unveiled the Timeline feature, which is basically a history of your activity on Facebook, as well as Netflix integration, though not in the United States. For more, see PCMag's live blog of Zuckerberg's f8 keynote.