What's going on?

On Friday, Facebook announced a licensing deal with Warner Music that will allow users to share music and videos (tweet this) from the likes of Ed Sheeran, Jay-Z and Bruno Mars in messages across its platforms.

What does this mean?

Facebook�s been on a music and sports binge of late, signing a deal with Universal Music back in December, as well as agreements to live stream Major League Baseball, Major League Soccer and Europe�s Champions League.

Facebook essentially wants to become a hub for everything we do together � including watching music videos and sports matches. YouTube remains the one to beat when it comes to music, but sports is up for grabs as millennials “cut the cord”, leading online companies like Amazon to start live streaming things like tennis.

Why should I care?

For you personally: Record labels might be finding a way to monetize their content on online platforms.

Viral videos like the mannequin challenge have been a boon for the likes of Facebook and YouTube, with the hundreds of millions of views they generate boosting both platforms� advertising businesses. Until recently, the major record labels weren�t getting a slice of the profits, and so they would frequently issue copyright notices to get their music taken down. But if you can�t beat �em, join �em: the deal struck by Facebook pays the record companies each time a song is played.

The bigger picture: Content is king, engagement is queen.

When Facebook bought Instagram for $1 billion in 2012, it raised eyebrows � but it�s since proven a sound investment. With Netflix set to spend $7-8 billion on original content this year and the likes of Amazon going on their own shopping sprees, quality programming remains key to driving engagement online, keeping users active on websites for longer. This is particularly important for Facebook as user growth slows in mature markets and its existing users spend less time on the social network.