14 DAY TRIAL // Facebook is definitely launching a music-related platform at the F8 developers' conference later today. The latest hint, a downright confirmation if an unwilling one, comes from a Facebook employee who tweeted how much he enjoyed the ability to join in and listen to whatever his friends were listening to at the very moment via Facebook.
"The 'Listen with your friend' feature in ticker is blowing my mind. Listen to what your friends are listening. LIVE," Ji Lee, a creative director at Facebook, tweeted, as TechCrunch revealed.
The tweet was deleted several minutes later, but it survived enough for it to be spotted by others.
He's referring to the new Facebook Ticker which offers real-time updates on anything your friends are up to, including listening to music, provided they've linked up their music streaming service to Facebook.
Of course, the only ones who can do that, for now, and have it show up in the Facebook Ticker are Facebook employees, insiders and perhaps some early testers.
One major touting point of Facebook's music integration is the social aspect. The appeal is to be able to see what your friends are listening to and share your favorites with them.
But it goes beyond sharing, at least beyond sharing as we understand it now, because, thanks to the Facebook Ticker, users don't have to actively share their activities or interests, i.e. publish a status update about a great new band they discovered.
Instead, they can simply listen to their favorite track of the moment on Spotify, Vevo and other places, and it will show up in their friends' Ticker.
Their friends will also spot a "Listen with your friend" feature which does exactly what you'd expect, it enables you to jump in and start listening to the same track and at the same spot that your friend is listening to.