Facebook is getting its own dedicated news tab. The platform's difficult relationship with the news has brought about a new partnership, in which Facebook will pay big publishers to publish on the news tab.
Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of the company, made the following announcement during his meeting with Congress this week:
Later this week we'll be making a big announcement about the launch of a major initiative around news and journalism. We are working with many to create a new product that will support high quality journalism quality.
A Publication from the Washington Post confirms that a group of people will determine the top stories in the upcoming tab, while everything else will be chosen by the algorithm, matching stories to users' interests in various topics. The first wave of partner companies includes: WaPo, Wall Street Journal, Business Insider, BuzzFeed News and some local news sources.
The story of the company with the news is a bit adventurous. The news was an important part of News Feed (as the name says) until January of 2018, when the company modified the algorithm to prioritize news from friends and family. Facebook also has a history of spreading a lot of fake news. Also, according to a study of Pew, more than 60 percent of Americans believe that social networks have "too much control" over the news people see.
Facebook announced in August that it would launch the new feature before the end of the year. The Wall Street Journal reported at the time that it offered major publishers up to $3 million to work on the new project.
At this time, we do not know how these changes will affect the viewing of smaller news content or whether only the major news companies will be paid.
The new News Feed will be unveiled at a major event in New York this Friday.
