Paramount puts films in Facebook

Thousands of movie clips are to be available to surfers following a deal between Paramount Pictures and Facebook. The new service, called VooZoo, gives Facebook users access to footage from thousands of movies, ranging from Titanic to Braveheart. Paramount is the first major studio to open up their vast collection of movies to surfers. "The short clips for a movie that you've already seen before helps you relive the moment," said Derek Broes, Paramount senior vice president of entertainment. With the VooZoo application, Facebook members can post footage from Paramount movies and send them to other users on the site. The clips, called "Voohoos," range in length from a few seconds to an entire scene. Viewers will be able to log in and watch famous moments from the Godfather trilogy or Tom Hanks comparing life to a box of chocolates in Forrest Gump. In return for opening up its movie vault, Paramount will market DVDs of movies through a button that appears after each clip is played. It eventually wants to use the application to virally market upcoming releases. The addition of Paramount movie clips is another feather in Facebook's cap signalling the social network site's willingness to deal with third party developers. Last week the Financial Times and Facebook linked together to offer students free subscription to the business newspaper. www.facebook.com www.paramount.com