New BBC iPlayer comes with integrated social networking

Social networking continues to gather pace. Look at Facebook’s ever-expanding membership, Apple‘s new Ping for iTunes, and the rumoured Google Me project, the fully fledged social network the search giant is supposed to be working on.

And now the Beeb has integrated social networking support into its iPlayer, to enable users to hook their accounts up directly to the program.

That means with the new client, after you’ve watched a programme, you can quickly and easily comment on it, recommend it and let your friends or followers on Facebook or Twitter know exactly how great it was. Either that, or moan about how you’ll never get that hour of your life back.

The new version of the iPlayer has been in beta testing for a few months now, and adds a number of fresh features, including the ability to pre-download a show before it’s on TV, so you can watch it immediately after it’s broadcast.

The Beeb’s revamped iPlayer should be available to download at some point this week.