What is Facebook News, which publishers are included, and how does it work?
Facebook has launched a new feature inside its main mobile app.
Called Face News, it is described as a "dedicated place for news on Facebook", and it's primarily intended to provide Facebook users with more control over their news experience and the news stories they see on the platform.
Facebook said it surveyed publishers, journalists, and over 100,000 people on Facebook in the US to learn more about how people consume news on Facebook. It wanted to see what topics they were most interested in, and it found it was "under-serving" many topics people wanted to see most in their news feeds. As a result, it's come up with Facebook News. Here's how it works.
When will Facebook News be available?
Facebook is now testing Facebook News among a few hundred thousand users in the US.
How do you find Facebook News?
Facebook News is a new tab in the Facebook app. It sits next to Facebook Watch in the menu bar. It's currently in testing and may not be available to you right away. We'll keep you posted when it receives a wider rollout.
- Open the latest version of the Facebook app.
- Tap the Facebook News tab (paper icon) next to Facebook Watch in the menu bar.
You can also learn more about Facebook News at www.facebook.com/news.
How does Facebook News work?
Facebook News will feature a wide range of news content across four categories of publishers: General, topical, diverse, and local news. Facebook said it wanted to build a place for users to find more news on Facebook. So, here are the key features of Facebook News:
- Today’s Stories: These are stories hand-curated by a team of journalists.
- Personalised experience: You will see news based on what you read, share, and follow on Facebook.
- Topic sections: You can explore more news in topic sections like business, entertainment, health, science and tech, and sports.
- Your Subscriptions: You can link your paid news subscriptions to your Facebook account and access them from the Facebook app.
- Control: You will have the ability to hide articles, topics, and publishers you don’t want to see.
Facebook said it wants to recognise original reporting, as it's more expensive to produce. So, its curation team of journalists, who manage the Today’s Stories section of Facebook News, will reward original stories by choosing them first.
Which publishers on Facebook News?
Facebook News will host reporting from major US publishers, including The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and BuzzFeed. According to hTe Verge, it's even paying some participating publishers, offering a new revenue stream in the industry. Facebook said publishers who wish to participate will need to be in its News Page Index, which it developed in "collaboration with the industry to identify news content".
Publishers will need to abide by Facebook’s Publisher Guidelines, which supposedly includes "a range of integrity signals in determining product eligibility, including misinformation - as identified based on third-party fact checkers - community standards violations (e.g., hate speech), clickbait, engagement bait, and others". It promised to continually check integrity status to ensure eligibility criteria is being met.
As for smaller publishers, the social network said it will start by showcasing local original reporting from local publications in the largest major metro areas across the US, including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas-Fort Worth, Philadelphia, Houston, Washington DC, Miami, Atlanta and Boston. In the coming months, we’ll include local news from over 6,000 US towns and cities.
Want to know more?
Check out Facebook's announcement blog post for more details.
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