Facebook have been undergoing numerous recent additions to their social network site that now boasts some 750million users.
These additions include the ability to purchase episodes of Doctor Who for little more than 15
Facebook credits equivalent to £1 thanks to a partnership between
BBC and Facebook.
However, this is not the only addition.
Skype too are getting a piece of the social networking action and are now partnering with Facebook to give Facebook users the ability to
one-2-one Facebook through Skype.
Yet,
Google+, Google's social network, includes video conferencing for up to ten people on its application named Hangouts. Now though Facebook are rumoured to take it even further and are set to soon release their own music service, which due to the discovery of code within the site, is rumoured to be dubbed, ‘Facebook Vibes.’
The possibility of Facebook to soon be launching their own music service is certainly a probability. Mark Zuckerberg, upon the launch of the Skype video chatting service, promised that the inclusion of Skype was just the first of a series of high-profile features set to launch in the coming weeks. The rumours of the
Facebook music service are based on code uncovered in the code for the video chat download.
if (paramString.equals("com.facebook.peep"))
return this.window.getMember("VideoChatPlugin");
if (paramString.equals("com.facebook.vibes")) {
return this.window.getMember("MusicDownloadDialog");
}
The string containing, 'peep,' refers to the video chat service yet the lines following it are about something called, 'vibes,' – which will launch a dialogue box referred to as, 'MusicDownloadDialog.'
This seems to confirm that a Facebook Music service is almost imminent. Nonetheless, it is unlikely to be called 'vibes.' Well we hope not anyway.
However, the code proposes numerous question. Does the reference to download imply that rather than a streaming service, Facebook will actually offer music files to be downloaded directly through Facebook. Nonetheless, it could simply refer to the need for software to be downloaded in order for the music service to work.
The latter would make sense considering the Skype software needed for video chat needs to be downloaded. Yet, if Facebook was getting into the music downloads market, it could prove a major competitor for the likes of
iTunes and Amazon.