Facebook will allow users to sing along live to popular songs, following a popular teen trend popularized by apps like Musical.ly and Smule.
Lip Sync Live lets users try their hand at belting out top hits in real time using Facebook Live. The feature, which is being tested in a few markets, will also allow users to friends sing along with them using its "Live With" feature. Camera effects can be added the same as any Facebook Live video. Though the videos are streamed live, they can be posted and rewatched at a later date.
The product is very similar to karaoke apps that have found an audience with teen and tween audiences. Arguably the most well known of those apps, Musical.ly, reached 60 million monthly active users in November 2017. It was acquired by Chinese company Bytedance in November, in a deal reported to be worth between $800 million and $1 billion.
And Facebook could benefit from developing a feature with a teen following. A recent Pew study showed usage of the main Facebook app was declining among 13 to 17-year-olds, with only 51 percent of survey takers saying they used the service.
The company also announced plans to allow people to use licensed music in their videos, which will start rolling out globally on iPhones.
Facebook has been signing multiple licensing deals with major record labels over the last year, leaving people speculating on its music ambitions. Today's announcements shed light on their plans. The company added it was working on allowing licensed music to be included in Facebook Stories, as well as other music-focused endeavors across all its apps.