News - 22/07/2014

Facebook's major new feature "Save" automatically categorizes music content

Facebook's major new feature "Save" automatically categorizes music content

Instapaper, Pocket, Evernote: there are a hundred ways to save interesting pieces of information one may come across online. 

Now Facebook is getting into this game with its new “Save” function allowing users to save for later consumption items they don’t have time to explore right away. 

Saved items will be accessible in the “More” tab on the app where there is a “Saved” option, or simply on the left hand side of the browser in the desktop experience.

What’s really interesting about this function is that Facebook is not limiting itself to saving the pieces of information, but is also automatically categorising links so that users will find them neatly sorted. Categories include Links, Places, Music, Books, Films, TV Shows, Events. 

This is potentially a very big deal. People constantly nip in and out of Facebook and given the platform’s constant stream of information it is hard to create a compelling list of content that made you laugh, of music shared by your friends, of books & movies you’d like to check out at some point.

Sure, this new function doesn’t invalidate the functionality of Instapaper, Pocket and Evernote, but for users who wouldn’t normally dream of signing up to one of these services it represents a big step forward. 

The new function also opens up interesting opportunities on the music front. 

How many times have friends recommended a band on Facebook that you didn’t have the time to check it out during the 5-minute “social media break” at work? Now you could have a handy reminder of all the music recommendations from friends and family that intrigued you.

In addition, down the line it is feasible to imagine Facebook allowing services like Spotify or Rdio to hook up to the “Saved Music” category, letting people export the bookmarked tracks into a playlist on their streaming service of choice. 

Obviously, the new function could also provide Facebook with a myriad of new data points against which advertisers could fine-tune their campaigns. Saved the trailer for the new “Dawn of the planet of the apes” movie? Your local cinema could target you with their screening times for next week. Saved music by Jungle? Why not book tickets for a gig in your local venue… and so on. 

The big question mark now is how Facebook’s billion-plus users will react to the new function. 

 

(Andrea Leonelli)

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