This article was published on May 22, 2013

Pandora’s new Facebook Timeline app lets users find new music and share what they’re listening to


Pandora’s new Facebook Timeline app lets users find new music and share what they’re listening to

Internet radio service Pandora is extending its partnership with Facebook through a new Timeline app which will allow users to share what they’re listening to on the social network.

The integration is being rolled out for Pandora’s iOS and Android apps, as well as pandora.com, giving users the option to automatically publish their music activity to Facebook.

It follows similar functionality deployed by a number of other on-demand music streaming services, such as Spotify and Rdio.

Pandora’s Tom Conrad said: “While we’ve offered social features that allow you to explicitly share your Pandora stations and music discoveries to Facebook for some time, today’s update makes sharing effortless.

“This means it’s easier than ever to discover new music from friends’ listening activity in your Facebook News Feed or by checking out the music section on their profile.”

pandora-publish-to-facebook

Pandora users will also be able to personalize what they share on the social network by choosing specific stations, tracks and artists to promote on their Timeline. Music activity will henceforth appear in the News Feed, their Activity Log and the Music section as determined by Facebook’s in-house ranking algorithms.

Other Pandora users will also be able to load-up radio stations shared through Facebook by clicking on the appropriate link or image contained in the story published on the News Feed or Music section.

As with all Facebook-integrated apps, users can revoke access or change what content is shared through the Application Settings Page on Facebook, and can also remove specific posts from their Timeline or Activity Log.

Pandora wins, Facebook wins

The extension will give Pandora’s music service some additional exposure on Facebook, thereby attracting new and former users. For Facebook, the partnership will help grow the quantity and variety of activity prevalent in the Music section of users’ Timeline and News Feed. This, in turn, should give Facebook users an extra incentive to visit the site and discover what other people have been listening to.

The update follows the launch of Pandora Premieres, a new station that gives users access to previews of upcoming albums rom the likes of John Fogerty and Laura Marling.

Pandora also announced recently that it has 200 million registered users in the United States, racking up 1.5 billion monthly listener hours collectively.

Image Credit: Spencer Platt/Getty Images

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