Does Spotify Friends tab test suggest Spotify social media features are on the way?
Image Credit: Spotify
Some users can now see Friends activity on mobile. Is this a step towards an in-app Spotify social media experience?
Randomly selected users have noticed that a Spotify Friends mobile tab is being tested on the platform. When pressed on the subject CEO Daniel Ek hinted that Spotify might become a more social platform. The Friends tab is present at the bottom of the navigation bar for some Spotify users included in the test.
Currently a Spotify Friends experience is limited to desktop, where you can see what your friends are listening to on the sidebar. Users who’ve been part of the new mobile test tweeted screencaps of a friends activity tab, with a similar feed of activity to desktop as well as a weekly picks section at the top of the page.
In response to a question asked during Spotify’s 2022 Q4 earnings event, Ek didn’t say that the tab was a permanent fixture, but said “social could be a meaningful driver of creating an even stickier and more engaging experience.” You can read more about Spotify’s Q4 2022 Results here.
Existing features like Spotify Wrapped show the power of community, indicating the eagerness of Spotify users to share their listening activity. Spotify has previously tested a Community tab, showing what your friends were streaming and their playlists. Spotify Wrapped dominates online conversation every year, so its natural that the streaming service would be looking to replicate that buzz in everyday use of the app.
Keeping users engaged within the app, instead of hitting play on a song and heading off Spotify to social media to talk about it, is surely a no-brainer for the company.
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