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 will make a big announcement to launch a major news and journalism initiative. We are working with many to create a new product that will support high quality journalism.
A Publication from the Washington Post confirms that a group of people will determine the top stories on the upcoming tab, while everything else will be selected by the algorithm, matching the stories to the interests of users on a variety of topics. The first wave of affiliates include WaPo, The 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 Pew study, more than 60 percent of Americans believe that social media has "too much control" over what people see.
Facebook announced in August that it would launch the new feature before the end of the year. The Wall Street Journal then reported 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.
