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Culture > News

Facebook’s Looking Into A New Singing Contest Feature & It’s A Little Too ‘Black Mirror’ TBH

Erica Kam

If you’ve always wanted to audition for X Factor but were too scared to sing in front of a live audience, Facebook might have the perfect solution.

Social Media Today reported that the social network is tinkering with a new feature called “Talent Show,” in which users can post videos of them “auditioning” by singing popular songs. The first person to notice the new feature was coder Jane Manchun Wong, who remarked on Twitter that the feature “feels like a cross between Musical.ly and Fifteen Million Merits from Black Mirror.”

TBH, I have to agree. It’s still unclear who the “judges” are in this talent show scenario, but Social Media Today envisioned a future where all users could upload these audition videos and compete against their friends, having their Facebook friends decide the winner. Having people depend on social media engagement to win anything, even bragging rights, is a little too futuristic-creepy for my tastes. I suppose, however, this is at least marginally more interesting than Musical.ly, which involves lip-syncing rather than, uh, actual talent.

Of course, like everything else on Facebook, the new feature is based off a business deal. Now that Facebook has a partnership with Universal Music Group, they have more of an interest in bringing music to the forefront of their platform. This isn’t the first musical feature Facebook has rolled out, either—they also have Lip Sync Live, which is kind of like their own version of Musical.ly.

Right now, Wong says that the feature isn’t available to everyone, at least just yet. I, for one, think that’s a good thing — I’d rather not have to scroll through 40 singing videos every time I open the app.

Erica Kam is the Life Editor at Her Campus. She oversees the life, career, and news verticals on the site, including academics, experience, high school, money, work, and Her20s coverage. Over her six years at Her Campus, Erica has served in various editorial roles on the national team, including as the previous Culture Editor and as an editorial intern. She has also interned at Bustle Digital Group, where she covered entertainment news for Bustle and Elite Daily. She graduated in 2021 with a bachelor’s degree in English and creative writing from Barnard College, where she was the senior editor of Columbia and Barnard’s Her Campus chapter and a deputy copy editor for The Columbia Spectator. When she's not writing or editing, you can find her dissecting K-pop music videos for easter eggs and rereading Jane Austen novels. She also loves exploring her home, the best city in the world — and if you think that's not NYC, she's willing to fight you on it.