Facebook says it plans to pay only a portion of the publishers whose stories appear in a news “tab” set to launch in the weeks ahead.

 

Facebook recently confirmed plans for a News Tab that will be edited by seasoned journalists. This is a departure from its longstanding practice of letting algorithms dictate a user’s experience.

 

A human team will select relevant, reliable breaking and top news stories.

 

Facebook spokeswoman Mari Melguizo said to AFP,

“The number of publishers included in the news tab will grow over time. To ensure we’re including a range of topic areas, we’ll start by paying a subset of publishers who can provide a steady volume of fact-based and original content.”

 

A Wall Street Journal report said Facebook planned to pay about a quarter of the estimated 200 news organisations whose articles it will feature.

 

The tab will be separate from the trademark news feed at Facebook. The news feed displays updates and also content from people’s friends.

 

 

Aside from human-curated top news, sections of the tab will rely on algorithms to figure out a user’s interests based on “signals”. These signals include pages followed, interactions with online news or subscriptions to publications.

 

Facebook head of news partnerships Campbell Brown spoke to AFP. Brown said, “Our goal with the News Tab is to provide a personalised, highly relevant experience for people.”

 

However, the majority of stories people see will be determined by software, according to Brown.

 

Facebook Watch already allows users to peruse news shows funded by the social network and other on-demand online content.

 

Facebook has also launched an array of initiatives to support or bolster journalism in recent years. This comes as social media has been under intense pressure to avoid becoming a tool to spread misinformation.

 

Earlier this year Facebook co-founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said he wanted “to make sure that to the extent that we can, we’re funding as much high-quality journalism as possible.”

 

Meanwhile, the move comes with online platforms Facebook and Google dominating the market for online advertising. This makes it harder for traditional news organisations to gain traction in digital. The two internet giants also unveiled several initiatives aimed at helping the news industry and professional journalism.

 

Finally, for more exciting tech and lifestyle articles, stay on Plat4om.