What you need to know

  • Facebook has announced the rollout of a new News tab as part of a limited test in the U.S.
  • The news section will appear as a home screen tab within the Facebook app for users.
  • Some of the participating publishers include The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Bloomberg, and BuzzFeed News.

Facebook today announced that it is starting to test 'Facebook News' in the U.S. The dedicated Facebook News tab in the Facebook app will allow users to browse through news stories from major publications such as The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, BuzzFeed, Bloomberg, Fox Business, NPR, and more. According to Recode, Facebook will be paying millions of dollars a year to some of the participating publishers for their content.

Campbell Brown, VP, Global News Partnerships and Mona Sarantakos, Product Manager, News at Facebook wrote in a blog post:

Journalism plays a critical role in our democracy. 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.

People want and benefit from personalized experiences on Facebook, but we know there is reporting that transcends individual experience. We want to support both.

The Facebook News tab will feature "Today's Stories" that will be picked by a "team of journalists" to help users catch up on the news throughout the day. Facebook says users will be able to find new interests and topics on Facebook News, based on the news stories they read and share. Facebook News will also let users link their paid news subscriptions to their Facebook account and hide articles, topics, or publishers that they aren't interested in.

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Facebook says only publishers that are in its News Page Index and those who abide by its Publisher Guidelines can qualify for inclusion. They will also need to have a "sufficiently large audience."

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