Facebook’s Latest Update To Focus On Local News
The world’s largest social network is making adjustments on its platform once again. Facebook’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, announced Monday that the social media network will concentrate on making more visible local news in this newest update.
A week earlier, the social network had announced changes to its newsfeed. According to Reuters, content shared on Facebook will have more of a local focus and depending on where you live, it will show up.
“Starting today, we’re going to show more stories from news sources in your local town or city,” Zuckerberg said in a Facebook post. “If you follow a local publisher or if someone shares a local story, it may show up higher in News Feed.”
Facebook has been revamping its platform ahead of the new EU measure go into effect in May. In addition, the company, in light of this new measure, had to publicize its privacy principles. These tweaks on Facebook came also as a result of Zuckerberg’s tour around the country and divulged on his page the reasons behind these much-needed changes.
“When I traveled around the country last year, one theme people kept telling me is how much we all have in common if we can get past some of the most divisive national issues. Many people told me they thought that if we could turn down the temperature on the more divisive issues and instead focus on concrete local issues, then we’d all make more progress together.”
As stated by Zuckerberg, this update will be rolling out in the U.S first and will be implemented in additional countries later.
All of these changes to the social network’s platform are the byproduct of a new law in the EU. Also, Facebook was scrutinized during the 2016 presidential election. An analysis had accused Facebook of swaying the election outcome.
https://www.facebook.com/zuck/posts/10104493997365051
Facebook’s News Feed is going to display updates from friends and family over business or advertising content. How these new changes affect the company’s in the next couple of quarters will be carefully examined.
As a result of changing the way content appears on Facebook, this is going to affect pages and ultimately impact media organizations. The BBC reported that Facebook’s decision affects negatively news outlets.
“The company has acknowledged that media organisations posting on its site may see the popularity of their posts decrease as a result.”
Facebook to promote local news in drive for 'trusted' content https://t.co/0gBuJ0OlCB
— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) January 29, 2018
Nevertheless, after Zuckerberg’s update, a Seattle Times reporter shared a statistic on Twitter that emphasized the hardship of the news media and how many journalists lost their jobs with the arrival of these new platforms.
