April 15, 2013
Facebook status updates have just got more interactive due to a set of new changes where users will soon be able to express what they are watching, eating or listening to on the site.
In a move that will surely bring joy to those users who love to broadcast their lives on social media, Facebook users will soon be able to “express what they’re watching, reading, listening to, eating, drinking or how they’re feeling in status updates.”
According to Facebook, if you share that you’re watching a movie like Jurassic Park, your post will contain the movie icon and a link to the movie’s page and then be added to your timeline in the Movies section. The same applies to any books you’ve read, restaurants you have visited and music you have listened to.
This change, which is expected to roll out in a few weeks time in the US (as of yet UK times have not been confirmed), sees the simple check-in evolve to include more information about what your friends are doing and are interested in on Facebook.
For brands, it gives them further access and insight into users’ listening habits, where they eat and when, and what are the most popular times and days to advertise on TV. For example, the opening episode of the new series of Made in Chelsea received 304,000 tweets in the one-hour show and saw Twitter abuzz with a flurry of activity surrounding the show. This gives brands advertising during the one-hour slot a clear picture of what people are watching and what they are thinking.
These new changes on Facebook give users the chance to express themselves in a new way that was previously only shown through the use of third-party apps such as Spotify. And for brands, it gives them a chance to see what people are watching, reading and listening to, allowing them to find out more about their demographic and what they are really interested in.