Mark Zuckerberg released a statement saying that news will appear further down in the Facebook timeline to make way for posts from mates, family and FB groups. In a really long FB post he boiled it down to this:
“The research shows that when we use social media to connect with people we care about, it can be good for our well-being. We can feel more connected and less lonely, and that correlates with long term measures of happiness and health. On the other hand, passively reading articles or watching videos — even if they’re entertaining or informative — may not be as good. Based on this, we’re making a major change to how we build Facebook. I’m changing the goal I give our product teams from focusing on helping you find relevant content to helping you have more meaningful social interactions”.
With this added challenge, publications will have to post news elsewhere – so, what’s the alternative for publications and businesses alike?
One commenter on an article that goes deep into this issue writes:
“I think the issue is a bit deeper than that: it’s not “FB is done with quality journalism”, but, mostly, “Journalism is done with quality”. I’m sure FB would be delighted to have news if those were objective and consensual.
We can always dig deep to find the 1% of worthwhile news, but any look at a random newspaper, newscast, of 24×7 newschannel makes very clear that on the gossip — facts — analysis — education continuum, the needle is firmly planted in the gossip area, with an occasional sprinkling of random (or worse, cherry-picked) facts, barely any analysis, and zero education.
A bit further down, you assert FB is going for entertainment. Actually, they’re going for social (news about people I know). *News*, not FB, has gone to entertainment: take out the people, sports, arts, travel, and accidents/crimes parts of news, there isn’t much left.
To me, FB is simply a mirror held up to News. And Society.”
It’s time for publishers to go elsewhere to post and read news. It’s not ideal but let’s try not get sad about it
Resources:
We found an article with a bunch of news websites to help you keep one step ahead of FB.