Facebook’s new breed of media apps at a glance

By September 22 2011, 11:37 pm 1,237 Comments
Tagged: , , , , , ,

Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook has unveiled ‘a new breed of apps’ launched in partnership with a series of media partners, including The Guardian, The Independent and Spotify.

The premise is simple enough, the media apps are based on, and reflect, our lifestyle choices and together they further paint a picture of who we are; what music we like, what news stories we read, and when, and for how long.A natural extension to sharing photos, status updates and comments? Perhaps. Building on Zuckerberg’s theme of openness and connectivity? Definitely.

A Facebook spokesperson tells me this will mean “your Timeline becomes a more complete story of who you are and what you care about”.

The announcements end (& largely confirm) the gist of app speculation emanting from both sides of the Atlantic, below is a brief overview of those media partnerships we can expect to see in Europe.

Spotify: As you listen to music on Spotify, your Timeline will populate with your listens, as well as your top albums, playlists and artists.
The Guardian: Once you add The Guardian app to your Timeline and turn sharing on, you can broadcast the articles you read to your Timeline. If you decide you do not want to share an article, you can “X” it out from The Guardian app, or remove it from your Timeline through your Activity Log.
Deezer: By integrating with Facebook Platform, Deezer has built a social music experience that makes it easy for people to share their taste in music with friends.
Myvideo and Dailymotion: Discover new videos based on what your friends are watching so it’s easier to discover great virals and share them with friends.
Cinemur: Discover new movies based on what your friends are watching. Friends who connect Cinemur to their Timeline will showcase movies as they watch them, so it’s easier to discover new comedies, documentaries, foreign films and obscure indie films through your friends, and watch them yourself.
The Independent: Recently Read allows people on Facebook and on the Independent site to discover the articles their friends are reading,  By opting into the Recently Read Facebook application on any article on The Independent site, articles that people have read will be posted to Facebook for their friends to discover and interact with in real time. People can control what articles become part of their profile directly from the application, and also on Facebook.
Mixcloud and Soundcloud: Through Facebook Platform, people can discover new music with their friends, making their online music experience more personal and relevant.
Artfinder: People can add their favourite artworks from Artfinder to their Facebook profiles and connect with their friends around art online. People have controls over what and how they Artfinder with their friends – they can turn this functionality off at any time in multiple places on Facebook and on Artfinder.

Meg Pickard, head of digital engagement at Guardian News & Media, says: “We know that a lot of Guardian readers are keen Facebook users, and vice versa, so we wanted to create a news experience that was native to the Facebook environment.

“The app draws on the social functionality they are already familiar with to highlight and discover quality Guardian content, and makes users’ reading experience more personal and relevant.

“We’ve had a presence on Facebook for some time, but working with them to develop this app as a Facebook Open Graph launch partner has demonstrated that it’s possible to get the best of both social and news worlds.

“We can also engage new readers who may not already be frequently interacting with the Guardian brand, who can now discover our excellent content via their friends’ interactions.”

Ross Adams, sales director of Europe at Spotify, says: “This doesn’t mean much change in terms of the nuts and bolts of Spotify’s advertising formats. However, the more users Spotify has, the more eyes and ears for advertisers’ campaigns.”

An Independent spokesperson says: “Many Independent readers already experience their news through a social lens. Since integrating social plugins in early 2010, referrals from Facebook have increased by 430 percent, making Facebook the second biggest driver of traffic to the website.”

Jobs

 

  • Most read

    • No results available

  • Most discussed/rated

  • Tags

    2010 ABC Absolute Radio adspend Ad spend advertising Aegis Media british media Channel 4 channel 5 Daily Mail digital digital media Facebook forecasts gnm google guardian ipad itv magazine magazines martin sorrell MEC media MediaWeek Awards Misc murdoch news international News of the World newspapers pay-walls paywalls publishers radio richard desmond rupert murdoch social media television the guardian The Sun The Times TV WPP zenithoptimedia

  • Authors

    No users found.

  • Archives

    September 2011
    M T W T F S S
    « Aug   Oct »
     1234
    567891011
    12131415161718
    19202122232425
    2627282930