Facebook has added a listening feature to its mobile app which can identify songs, movies, live TV and even sporting events.
The tool is an extension of the ‘Feelings’ status updates feature and when turned on, it is able to listen to sounds playing in your surroundings with the aim of identifying what you’re listening to or watching to help make it easier for you to share the info with your Facebook friends along with your feelings.
So now, when you’re listening to a track or watching TV, you don’t need to spell it all out before you can share it. All it takes is a few taps… no typing.
This new feature uses your phone’s microphone acting like an ‘ear’ listening to the sounds around you- then it attempts to match the sounds as sourced from 160 stations (in the US)- hinted by Aryeh Selekman, a product manager at the company.
When the app identifies the sounds, the info appears in the Facebook post you’re making with the option to remove it, or you can add the info using the ‘feelings’ tab above the keyboard.
It’s an opt-in feature, so it only works when you turn it on yourself and then it will stay on until you turn it off in the top-right corner of the compose page. So if you are listening to ‘thank God it’s Friday’ when you’re at work, you don’t have to share it with everyone.
And if you decide to share the update, your friends will then be able to listen to a 30-second preview of same as they view your feed-this takes away the usual need for users to leave Facebook in order to listen to a song shared by friends.
According to Selekman, users have enjoyed sharing feelings, and more than 5 billion posts in the past year have included a feeling or activity. Users who access the feelings list by clicking on the smiley face icon above the keyboard will now be prompted to turn on the audio recognition tool, but it won't be required.
You'll know it's working when you see a blue audio bar animation either in the top right corner or over the smiley icon at the bottom.
When asked how the technology worked, Selekman said that it functions at a millisecond level. "As audio comes into the device, it immediately gets converted into these unique codes that we can use to identify properties that's specific to the content… it then looks up the code in the database and finds a match.
Facebook plans to roll out the update to Android and iOS over the coming weeks (starting in the US)… but it will be a "slow rollout," says Selekman. There is no timetable for when all users will have the new feature.
The All Listening Ear?
Yes, people will find it easier to share what they’re listening to; but this also gives Facebook even more data about users, making them know what kind of content you spend time with.
If the feature is turned on, it comes alive once you are composing a post and when a sound is identified, the data is registered with Facebook even if you don’t decide to share it. Hmmm!
*But Facebook assures that the app is only searching for song and TV data and no other sound is ever recorded or stored on its servers.
Selekman says that no audio is actually recorded or shared to company servers. So if you are talking while the app's audio feature is operating, your words won't be saved or stored by Facebook.
… So when you’re at a party or a wedding and you’re taking lots of photos, you can add a soundtrack to go along with the updates or you can chat with your friends about TV shows and games… cool!