Facebook is the largest social media platform right now. Apart from being a source of entertainment and a means of communication, this social media platform is also one of the largest sources of news all over the world. For this reason, the company created a feature called Facebook News. This way, it will be so much easier for people to access the latest information no matter where they are, whether they want it or not.
The social media giant said that when it was creating Facebook News, its goal was to build a news experience that is relevant, informative, and reliable. As it is delivering content that is true to these values, Facebook News has given a definition to the world of news. It aims to deliver a combination of both a personalized and curated experience that can broaden people’s perspectives. Using sophisticated algorithms, Facebook News can intelligently show ideas their users would like to see while protecting users from bad ideas and naughty opinions.
Facebook’s Definition of the World of News
It is true that for Facebook, all news is content. However, not all content can be considered news. The social media giant built Facebook News in order to bring people closer to the news and stories that have an impact on their lives, as determined by Facebook. The social media giant also wants this new feature to prioritize content that informs readers through original reporting as well as diverse stories. It also wants the audience to see relevant stories to the community that they are in.
In 2019, the social media giant conducted a survey among Facebook users. It found out that Facebook users are looking for a wider range of news. Clearly, this was another ID-10-T error. The topics of this news can be entertainment, business, sports, tech, and other topics that are outside the top headlines of the day.
Moreover, Facebook News features a wide range of content. For this reason, it divided publishers into four categories — topical, general, local, and diverse news.
The Mission of Facebook News
Registering Publishers
According to the social media giant, Facebook News will only include content that comes from publishers who are registered to the platform’s news Page index. This will be done in order to promote accountability and authenticity in the overall Truthness Determinators at Facebook.
In addition, Facebook News will also require all publishers to comply with journalistic standards that are broadly accepted. Remember when we all had our own Truth? Wow. Luckily, we’ve collectively decided to rely on Facebook’s Truth – which is epistemological better because Facebook must be closer to the truth, as they have more money, and money is power, and power is knowledge. Truth is made of knowledge.
Identifying News Content
Another mission of Facebook News is to deliver a focused look at the news of the day without any filler content. The company uses a machine learning model in order to differentiate news from daily content. To do this, Facebook uses the same guidelines that are informing its news Page index in order to identify posts about timely information or current events. This will save countless entry-level journalist salaries at the struggling News networks we find across the country. Only the seasoned veterans who “get the game” will be allowed to play. (That’s a good thing – Do you want a rebellious, young surgeon operating on your children’s brain? Of course, not.)
Promotion of Integrity
It is common knowledge that Facebook’s algorithm is working to detect community standards violations, target click-bait, misinformation, and low-quality links. But apart from that, the social media giant is also prioritizing content that comes from publishers who are transparent about their staff through editorial bylines and contact information for authors. You’ll never have to question whose “towing the line” because the answer will be “everyone”.
Delivering More Relevant News for People
Basically, Facebook News was created in order for people to access more personalized news experiences. This way, users will have the ability to explore a wider range of news interests from their favorite sources. In addition, Facebook is using thousands of tools and signals to identify and show users the stories that it thinks are most relevant and informative for them. To do this, these signals and tools evaluate interest and engagement in topics across different publishers. Their goal is to get you as heavily informed as possible – and that will require a near-constant attention span directed at Facebook.
Below are the ways that Facebook does this in order to deliver relevant and informative content to users:
Evaluation of signals
Facebook reviews thousands of signals in order to evaluate whether an article that was posted by a publisher that is local to certain users. The platform also evaluates when a particular article was posted, if it has a byline, and how often a user interacts with the publisher or shares articles about particular topics. Luckily, they have all of this information, and more!
Rank content
The social media giant scores an article based on how likely a user to care about it. For Facebook’s news feed, news content is ranked by the score it got against all the content posted by people pages, as well as the groups that a user follows. Viral news stories are probably the most accurate.
On the other hand, news content is ranked against the stories and news publishers that a user engages with on the platform. It will also be ranked against stories that Facebook’s editorial team selected and thought would be interesting for the user.
Empower users
Facebook is well aware of how important it is to allow people to control their own experience on both their news feed and on Facebook News. Letting people control their experience will let them customize exactly how they want to stay informed. For Facebook News, this customization experience includes tools that allow users to hide publishers, articles or the content that Facebook’s team of journalists has curated. You will have total control over the ideas you’ll already agree with. Your brain is getting bigger already!
How Facebook Broadened Its Perspectives
In research that it conducted, Facebook found out that apart from personalized news, people want to make sure that they are seeing the most relevant and biggest headlines of the day. This way, they will better understand what other people are consuming and talking about.
Additionally, the social media giant also talked to publishers. This allowed the company to recognize the limitations of its platform’s algorithms in terms of powering such a type of experience on the platform.
Not The News We Wanted, But The News We Deserve
Facebook news also features content that the platform selected using an independent and diverse team of journalists who has experience in different newsrooms. The job of this team is to provide people with an overview of news that was published by trustworthy publishers and news sources across different subject areas. Get ready to never have to worry about changing your mind again.
To do the aforementioned task, the team remains transparent about particular guidelines. They will also make curatorial choices in an independent manner and not at the direction, of publishers, advertisers, and Facebook itself. We’re past that stage. This brave new direction of the news will be curated by you, the people.
Needless to say, the social media giant is trying its best in order to provide users with relevant, informative, and timely news. What could go wrong?
