Dive Brief:

• NBC's "Today Show" and Discovery Channel's "Street Outlaws" debuted some real-time Facebook features that should help the social giant compete with Twitter. 
• The "Today Show" debuted the first use of Facebook's Trending API with a trending hashtag screen, while "Street Outlaws" used the new Hashtag Counter to take votes for viewers' favorite street racing team, along with two other APIs, and Facebook is using the new features to tap into the real-time conversation on-site. 

Dive Insight: 

Because of Facebook's friend-to-friend design, it has been difficult for the social giant to monitor much public discourse on the site. The new features developed by Spredfast will help it compete with other platforms — particularly Twitter — that marketers have been more closely monitoring to get TV viewer feedback. With so much cross-over happening between screens, Facebook needs features like these to stay relevant.