Facebook wants to ensure that it promotes quality news and has hired journalists to look after what is published in the next Top News tab. Like it or not, one of the problems facing the online world today is false information. Facebook is one of the essential social networks that contributed to the spread of this false information. Although it is not the only one, it is nice to see that it does at least something.
As usual, it is not enough to prepare trends. Facebook must also be careful to reach users, who will always read their feed, and users are also free to share information from this channel. It should be noted that Facebook does not have the best record with regard to this type of project.
Facebook is the largest social network in the world, which means that hundreds of millions of people use it almost daily. According to a Digiday report, so far ten people per day are working as Facebook journalists mainly in the United States. Only one journalist is based in the United Kingdom.
It seems that Facebook is trying to limit the impact of fake news in the United States, at least for the moment. The implementation of a new “Top News” tab should be available in October, which may seem familiar. Facebook’s efforts to combat fake news (or clickbait) are aimed primarily at limiting their ability to become viral and providing users with a simple way to verify the facts.
Real questions about the utility
On the one hand, Facebook launched a somewhat similar initiative a few years ago, with its “Trending Stories”, but it ended its activities after revealing that some entrepreneurs changed the trends by removing various items, including those concerning Facebook itself.
We do not know how this “Top News” tab will be different in this respect, now that Facebook hires journalists and does not use independent contractors. What will happen with the articles on negative trends on Facebook? Will they reach the “Top News”? Finally, there is also the possibility that Facebook could potentially sell a place in the “Top News” to publishers, which is not exactly contrary to its business model.
Facebook will join other technology giants like Apple and LinkedIn to create its own space in the publishing world. Apple has hired journalists for its Apple News service, and LinkedIn has in-house journalists working on its editorial products.
