Facebook and Spotify Link Up

Internet phenomenon Facebook announced a fresh set of changes and innovations at last week’s f8 conference for Facebook developers in California.

The recently updated home page has caused quite a stir amongst users who in the main seem unconvinced by the supposed improvements.

But other plans announced last week, such as new opportunities to listen to music, watch films and stay up to date with breaking news on the site may be a rather tantalizing prospect to the incredible amount of Facebook users.

The announcements made at the conference seem to be a mixed bag, with certain developments causing a feeling of excitement amongst the more casual Facebook users, and some seeming to be rather unnecessary and inhibitive.

One example of the latter is the new ‘timeline’ feature, which has been described by Facebook creator, Mark Zuckerberg as showing ‘the story of your life’ and is a ‘completely new way to express yourself’.

This feature has already caused some controversy in the media however, with users being able to literally rewind their Facebook clock and see when photos were added, statuses were left and virtual friendships were made.

However, most controversially the timeline shows when you were ‘de-friended’ – showing the date when a former Facebook friend chose to end that virtual relationship, something which was previously impossible to do. How this will affect people’s Facebook and real lives is yet to be discovered.

One new feature which should be far more appealing to users though is the new affiliation formed between Facebook and music program Spotify. The new features will allow users to sync their respective Facebook and Spotify accounts, meaning friends can see what a Facebook user is listening to on Spotify and having a link to the song. Zuckerberg has stated his hope that this will allow new music to spread more quickly and that he hopes this will allow people to listen to music more.

Facebook’s apparent stranglehold on social networking is evidently getting bigger, with it now boasting a finger in a very attractive pie, as Spotify has in recent years established a very reputable name for itself. Whether Facebook’s domination is positive or negative, however, remains to be seen.