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WSJ: Facebook's news tab could launch by the end of the month
While Mark Zuckerberg gives speeches about not wanting Facebook to be the arbiter of truth, the Wall Street Journal reports his company is setting up deals to launch its dedicated tab for news. In a post earlier this year, the CEO said "It's important to me that we help people get trustworthy news and find solutions that help journalists around the world do their important work." That will apparently take the form of a new section featuring human-curated Top News headlines (along with algorithmically-sorted subsections from "trusted publishers" that include those from WSJ parent News Corp, Buzzfeed News, the Washington Post and others. Its sources indicate that licensing fees could range from hundreds of thousands per year to millions for larger outlets. Facebook's recent troubles and a lack of trust in the company has stung its Libra cryptocurrency efforts, but paying publishers should help it fill out a news section that will compete with Apple's news package and Google's recently-readjusted news page.
Facebook's News Tab curators told not to censor news about the company
Facebook confirmed in August that it's using a small team of journalists to pick the top stories for its upcoming News Tab section. Now, The Information has revealed more details about the guidelines those editors have to follow. The publication says Facebook sent employees an internal memo containing its guidelines for curators, including prioritizing pieces with on-the-record sources over those with anonymous ones.
Facebook will use humans to curate its News Tab
When Facebook trots out its News Tab, it won't just rely on algorithms to decide what you see. The social network has revealed that a "small team of journalists" (yes, real humans) will help curate the dedicated section, with job listings going live on August 20th. While algorithms will rank most stories, the journalists will be far faster at highlighting the most relevant stories -- it would take a long time to train an algorithmic system to deliver similar customization.
WSJ: Facebook offers publishers millions for its dedicated news tab
Facebook is gearing up for the launch of a dedicated news tab by offering publishers million dollar deals, according to The Wall Street Journal. Apparently, the social network told news outlets that it would pay as much as $3 million a year to license their content for the upcoming section, which sources said would launch sometime this fall. WSJ says Facebook already met with Walt Disney's ABC News, The Washington Post, Bloomberg and its own parent company Dow Jones to pitch its offer. It's not clear if any of them already said yes, but any company that does will reportedly be signing up for a three-year agreement.
Google to roll out redesigned News tab
Google will soon unveil a refreshed News tab that places a priority on publishers, rather than headlines. The company today tweeted a preview of the redesigned news section for the desktop version of its search engine, which will roll out to users over the next few weeks. The change falls in line with recent efforts by the search giant to be more responsive to the needs of publishers and cut down on fake news.
Facebook may add a dedicated news tab later this year
Mark Zuckerberg has revealed he may add a dedicated tab for "high-quality news" to Facebook, perhaps by the end of the year. The section would reportedly be free for users, though Facebook might pay publishers whose work is featured. Zuckerberg mooted the idea in a conversation with Axel Springer CEO Mathias Döpfner, as part of his goal this year to hold discussions about the future of technology in society.
