January 27, 2021: The social network’s dedicated section for news content known as Facebook news is launching in the U.K.
The U.K. is the second market to get Facebook News, launched in the United States last year.
Some of the major news publishers like Channel 4, Sky News, and The Guardian have signed deals with Facebook to provide content.
Facebook News is the social network’s trial to convey the on-going friction between it and news publishers, as advertising spend has moved to the large tech firms and stopped for individual news outlets.
The new feature will go live by Tuesday afternoon, Facebook said.
The new feature is a dedicated tab in the Facebook mobile app itself, available by clicking the icon for options.
The tab features a mix of major daily news stories and “personalized” news selected according to the reader’s interests by Facebook’s algorithm.
It pays publishers “for content that is not already on the platform” and says the feature will also provide publishers with new advertising and subscription “opportunities.”
It consists of a news feed, an options panel to hide stories from an organization, and sports news.
The dedicated news feed will have personalization controls, Facebook says
According to the social network, the new product is a “multi-year investment that puts original journalism in front of new audiences.”
Big names like The Economist, The Independent, and Cosmopolitan were on board when they announced the product launch in the U.K.
After Tuesday’s launch, The Daily Mail, Financial Times, and Telegraph also announced the existing ones.
“As we invest more in the news and pay publishers for more content in more countries, we will work with them to support the long-term viability of newsrooms,” Facebook says.
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