CHINA TOPIX

11/22/2024 12:46:16 am

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Facebook Speaking to New York Times, Buzzfeed about News Integration

Facebook is in talks with The New York Times, Buzzfeed, National Geographic and other news outlets about showing full articles on news feeds.

The social network is working on specific advertising deals and interfaces before allowing the first batch of news outlets to post stories directly onto Facebook. It's hoping the integration will bring more news engagement on mobile, alongside more ad revenue.

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Facebook claims the average time for a news article to load inside the social network is eight seconds, too long for mobile users. To fix the issue, Facebook will integrate the article, allowing users to see a snippet and then press to read the full piece.

News outlets are apparently nervous about cozying up to Facebook since past updates have shunted news orgs on the social network. The worry is once all news outlets sign up, Facebook has too much control over how the news is read.

Facebook is trying to appease these issues by offering much higher engagement on the world's largest network, currently sitting on 1.4 billion accounts. Facebook also has one of the largest advertising divisions in the world. This means news orgs might be able to make more money from a single article.

Companies like Buzzfeed and Huffington Post -- two of the shortlisted candidates to join Facebook's news program -- utilize social sharing all of the time. Having a way to integrate with Facebook could be huge for those companies.

Information is still not clear but we may hear more about the news program at the F8 Developer Conference where Facebook intends to launch several news advertising and developer features for its networks.

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