Social Networking With Music

Social networking has generally been considered to be like Myspace or Facebook: people write on each other’s walls, form music, tag photos of each other, and broadcast statuses to their friends. However, a new type of social networking has developed in the Internet world, and it is revolved around music.

There are many sites that do this, such as Last.fm, Deezer.com, Imeem.com, etc. These sites still have the functionality for people to set up profiles and communicate with one another, but the element of music is added into the mix. The sites often host large catalogues of songs for users to stream, where they can save playlists or provide feedback on these songs. There are often pages dedicated to popular bands or artists, where users can leave comments describing how much the love (or hate) the band’s newest album. The bands themselves can control their pages, leaving personal feedback to their fans or uploading their newest songs for the audience to listen. This greatly attracts new bands who want to expose their music to a vast audience and gain popularity.

But what would be a social networking site without peer-to-peer interaction? Many sites allow users to help each other in creating playlists or discovering new music on the internet. Their playlists of songs are often viewable and searchable by the public, aimed at giving people who need help forming their own playlists or simply want something to listen to for an hour or two. Many websites also award users who make popular playlists, giving them opportunities at being featured on the front page of the social networking websites.

Another popular feature is the ability for a person to broadcast the current song that they are listening to. This is similar to Facebook’s and Twitter’s status feature, except it shows the current song. This is often more effective than words in describing a person’s mood or it can also be effective in alerting friends in a great new artist that the user has just discovered. If a person is feeling sad, nothing can be more effective than posting a feel-good song to help the person cheer up.

The use of music also allows for great innovation in the networking sites. For example, Deezer.com has created "blind tests," in which users can make quizzes and test other users on their knowledge of music. A 10 second sample is played, and the user has to choose the correct name and artist for the song. Last.fm has auto-recommendation features, which help the user choose a similar song to play next automatically. These innovations signify a great departure from the standard social networking websites.

Social networking has grown from the simple wall posts and expanded into various other fields, such as music. This allows for a new type of interaction and fun between friends, bringing them closer together and helping artists promote their music at the same time. For most people, music has become intertwined in their everyday lives, so it makes sense to incorporate it into social networking sites.