Earlier this week, Facebook announced that it will release an update for its mobile app which will allow users to identify and share music they are listening to or TV shows they are watching in status updates.
The new feature, which functions similarly to the app Shazam, will use smartphones’ built-in microphone to receive nearby sounds from music or television and then match them against a database, the BBC reports. Users can then post either a thirty-second sample of the music they are listening to or information about the TV series, season, and episode they are watching along with their status.
This will function like a more precise form of the current feature which allows users to type in their activities and moods, such as “reading TheCelebrityCafe.com”, or “feeling cheerful”, along with their status updates.
Facebook’s official press release for the feature states that this new mode of sharing is entirely optional, and can be turned off to prevent the mobile app from collecting audio data. Given the recent controversy over Facebook’s collection of user data, this clarification was likely made to assuage concerns about infringing on user privacy.
Though no specific release date was given, Facebook states that the update will be available for Android and iOS “in the coming weeks”.