Facebook, on Friday, 25 October, on its blog, announced its decision to re-enter the news business through partnerships with journalism outlets and a specialised “News” tab meant to steer users toward curated national as well as local stories.
Acknowledging that “journalism plays a critical role in our democracy,” the blog, written by Campbell Brown, VP, Global News Partnerships and Mona Sarantakos, Product Manager, News, stated that the social media giant is “starting to test Facebook News, a dedicated place for news on Facebook, to a subset of people in the US.” According to a Washington Post report, a broader rollout is expected early in 2020.
Facebook claimed that its news offering will allow users more control over the stories they see, and give them the ability to explore a wider range within their news interests directly within the Facebook app.
The news articles, however, will continue to appear in the News Feed as they currently do.
Facebook, on its official blog, announced that it will essentially come under the following key features:
Facebook News will feature a wide range of content across four categories of publishers: general, topical, diverse and local news.
The survey revealed it was under-serving categories like entertainment, health, business and sports.
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