Facebook adds a podcast player in its app, powered by Spotify
This article is at least a year old
First look: Today, Spotify and Facebook are introducing a new miniplayer experience that allows listeners to enjoy music and podcasts from Spotify directly within Facebook on iOS and Android, without switching between apps.
Driven by social discovery, Spotify say that the miniplayer experience will improve how users share and engage with songs and podcast episodes–all without having to leave the Facebook app.
Spotify Premium users can access full playback directly from Spotify while Free users can enjoy the same experience via shuffle mode and accompanying ads from Spotify.
Facebook has 3 billion users worldwide and more than 100 billion messages are shared every day.
How to share a podcast episode
On your Android or iOS phone:
- Go to Spotify, and find the episode you want to share
- Press the 'share’ icon
- Choose “Facebook News Feed” or “Facebook Stories”
- Finish writing your post, and you’re done.
For music, people will also have the ability to play songs via the miniplayer experience through verified artists posts. It’ll also appear within user uploaded videos on Facebook that contain licensed music.
How to listen
On your Android or iOS phone:
- Tap play on the song or podcast episode you, your friend, family member, or favourite creator shared from Spotify to their Facebook News Feed
- The first time you’re using the player, you’ll see a consent dialog open, click on Connect to continue.
- If you’re logged in to Spotify, the apps will automatically switch and playback will start from within the Spotify app. (If you’re not logged in, you will be prompted to do so.)
- Spotify keeps playing even if you keep scrolling down your Facebook News Feed, but you’ll have control over playback options so you can pause or dismiss the miniplayer.
When we asked about the Spotify embedded web player, we were told that if a user isn’t logged in, the stream won’t be logged in Spotify for Podcasters. However, the information Spotify gives us here seems to suggest that all podcast plays within Facebook will be logged in.
Where it’s available
The new integration is rolling out in 27 markets - Argentina, Australia, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, South Africa, Thailand, Uruguay, and USA.
Additional markets will follow in the coming month.
We’d note that no European countries are included, and wonder if there’s a GDPR issue to solve for the companies.
| James Cridland is the Editor of Podnews, a keynote speaker and consultant. He wrote his first podcast RSS feed in January 2005; and also launched the first live radio streaming app for mobile phones in the same year. He's worked in the audio industry since 1989. |
