Facebook comes after Twitter with a Shazam-like feature for tagging TV & music

Being able to use a fast Internet connection and a smartphone’s microphone to identify songs and television shows has turned Shazam into a tool many people use on a daily basis.

Well, Facebook noticed Shazam’s success. And today, the company updated its iOS app with a similar built-in music and TV show identification feature. The new feature also comes behind rumors that Apple is also working with Shazam on integrating a music/TV show tagging feature into the next version of its iOS mobile operating system.

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You’ll first see the new feature via a notification after the Facebook iOS app updates, which explains what it does and gives you the option of turning it on. It works in conjunction with status updates from what I can tell, meaning that you’ll be using the music/TV show I.D. feature when you want to tell your network of friends and followers. It’s activated when you hit the “mood” button within the status update field.

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READ MORE: Not so fast, Twitter: Facebook is also after those TV ad dollars

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The feature is basically trying to paint a more descriptive picture of your status by adding little details based on your current environment. Status updates already let you tag people you’re with, your location, mood, and a few other things. The music/TV show aspect will fit in nicely with that.

The new feature also might help Facebook become more competitive with Twitter over the conversations people are having while watching TV shows. Grabbing engagement from TV viewers has been a main focus for Twitter and even led to the company partnering with big media companies and broadcast networks.

The TV ad industry spends more than $160 billion annually, and social networks like Twitter and Facebook want to carve out a chunk of that, as VentureBeat has pointed out many times.

As for the new feature, Facebook said those following status updates with music or TV show tags will be able to play a 30-second preview clip. For a closer look at the new feature, check out the demo video from Facebook that we’ve embedded below.