Spotify is always looking for new ways to make music accessible to everyone, and as part of its latest effort in that journey, Spotify is now allowing music streaming directly in the Facebook app. This move also helps Facebook, giving users another reason never to leave the social media app if they don't have to.
This news comes just a few days after Facebook announced it was branching out into the podcast niche. In the near(ish) future, the Facebook app will allow users to discover and listen to podcasts without switching to something else like Spotify or Apple Podcasts. If a Facebook user sees that one of their favorite podcast creators just shared a new episode, for example, they'll be able to start listening right within Facebook instead of needing to switch to a different app. Facebook will also give users the ability to listen to podcasts in a third-party app, but it's clear that Facebook wants to keep people in its own application as much as possible.
That's basically the same thing that's happening with this new Spotify + Facebook integration. As of April 26 in select markets worldwide, Spotify Premium and Free users can listen to music from Spotify in the Facebook app. When someone shares a Spotify track either on their news feed or in Facebook Stories, users can tap on the song and start listening just like that. Premium users will be able to "discover and experience songs and episodes with full playback," whereas Free members "can enjoy the same great experience via shuffle mode with accompanying ads from Spotify."
How To Use The New Spotify And Facebook Features
It all starts by opening the Spotify app and finding a song/album to share on Facebook. Tap the three dots on the page for said song/album, tap 'Share,' and then tap one of the two Facebook options that are available — News Feed or Stories. That's all there is to it!
Once something from Spotify has been shared to Facebook, listening to it is pretty self-explanatory. On a post with a shared song, there will now be a 'Play' button that users can tap. The first time this is done, a consent menu appears with a 'Connect' button that needs to be tapped. After doing that and linking a Spotify account, the song will start playing directly from Facebook. As users scroll past the post, the song will keep playing and appear as a mini-player at the bottom of the screen. This mini-player shows the name and artist of the current song, has a play/pause button, and an X that can be tapped to stop it altogether.
One of the biggest upsides of Spotify is how easy it is to share songs with friends and family, and thanks to this latest Facebook integration, it just became even easier. It'd be great to see similar functionality come to Twitter, Instagram, and other platforms down the road, but for now, it is limited to Facebook.
Source: Spotify