Facebook is trying to expand its already large influence in the tech industry to other businesses. Reuters reports that the social networking service is looking to hire an executive who will be tasked with creating new relationships with Hollywood studios and music companies. The report claims that Facebook was previously in talks with former MTV executive Jason Hirschhorn about such a gig but that those negotiations apparently didn"t go well enough for Facebook to actually hire Hirschhorn. It"s not known what other executives Facebook might have talked to about such a job.
According to what an unnamed source said, "They (Facebook) had held the media industry at arm"s length for a while. It was: "We are a platform, come use us all you want but we don"t necessarily need to partner with you." But now the attitude has changed. They realize that one of the next phases in its evolution is to work with the media companies."
Facebook has made inroads in providing Hollywood movies on the site including deals with Warner Brothers and Universal. Those studios have agreements with Facebook to let its users rent and video movies via the site. Recent rumors have Facebook signing deals to provide access to streaming music providers such as Spotify, Rhapsody and others on the site. It might also be announcing agreements soon to have streaming video services like Hulu viewable on the service as well.
Of course, Facebook has been a center for game development soon after its launch with tens of millions of its users playing mostly free-to-play titles, including the various titles from developer and publisher Zynga.