Facebook targets young audience, announces song feature, Lip Sync

Facebook is testing a feature called Lip Sync Live which will let users choose songs to pretend to sing to during live broadcasts, a move targeting a young audience which pits it against popular app Musical.ly.

A recent study by the Pew Research centre showed American teenagers use Facebook less than apps including YouTube, Instagram, and Snapchat.

Musical.ly is also gaining popularity. The app enables users to add music to short video clips of them singing or dancing. It is estimated to have 200 million registered users and it appears Facebook may be targeting this user base.

“We’ve been partnering with music companies around the world to bring music to more experiences on Facebook. Today we’re announcing new ways for people to express themselves with music in their posts, including a new feature, Lip Sync Live,” the company said in a blog post.

“We’re testing this in several markets now and look forward to making it available more broadly soon,” it added.

After selecting a song from a list, users can add a description and customise their video with masks or a background. However, they can only do this if they are streaming live, rather than use the camera app to shoot a video they then choose not to share, which may impact how many users decide to try it out.

In the coming months, Facebook will also start testing options for adding music to Facebook Stories.

The company also forged deals with record labels to ensure users are not asked to remove background music due to copyright concerns, TechCrunch reported.

Last month the publication reported users may soon be able to add music to Instagram Stories.