Facebook rolled out a news tab Friday to a select number of people in the United States, marking the social media giant’s latest foray into the journalism business.
Facebook News highlights national and local stories curated from roughly 200 news outlets to start, which have entered into partnerships with Facebook, including BuzzFeed, the New York Times, NBCUniversal, and the Washington Post. Some of the publishers will be paid.
“Facebook News was built to bring people closer to the stories that affect their lives,” said Campbell Brown, a former CNN reporter and Facebook’s vice president of global news partnerships, and Mona Sarantakos, product manager of News. “We’ll continue to learn, listen, and improve News as it rolls out more broadly. We hope this work aids in our effort to sustain great journalism and strengthen democracy.”
The Menlo Park, California-based company, said through its news feature, it seeks to serve “both people and news publishers,” ranging from local outlets to national publications.
“We want new forms of journalism in the digital age, including individual, independent journalism, to flourish,” Brown and Sarantakos said in the blog post.
[Also read: Mark Zuckerberg says he ‘definitely’ considers himself a capitalist]
The articles featured on Facebook News will cut across four categories: general, topical, diverse, and local. In its initial phase, the tab will feature local original reporting from major metropolitan areas, starting with New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas-Fort Worth, Philadelphia, Houston, Washington, D.C., Miami, Atlanta, and Boston.
Some of the content showcased in Facebook News will be chosen by journalists and designed to highlight the biggest stories of the day, while other articles will be personalized for users based on what they read, share and follow. Facebook users can also link their paid subscriptions with their accounts on the platform.
The feature from Facebook follows similar services offered by competitors Google and Apple. The tool also comes as the social media giant, founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg, has been scrutinized for the spread of disinformation on the platform.
“Journalism plays a critical role in our democracy,” Brown and Sarantakos said. “When news is deeply-reported and well-sourced, it gives people information they can rely on. When it’s not, we lose an essential tool for making good decisions.”
