By John Eggerton, Broadcasting & Cable Online, 1-19-18
Facebook will start focusing on quality rather than quantity when it comes to delivering news to its users.
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg said Friday (Jan. 19) that starting next week the social media site will prioritize news sites. “[T]o make sure the news you see, while less overall, is high quality,” he said, “I’ve asked our product teams to make sure we prioritize news that is trustworthy, informative, and local. And we’re starting next week with trusted sources.”
He said that there was too much sensationalism, misinformation and polarization in the world, and that if social media does not become part of the solution, it is part of the problem. “Social media enables people to spread information faster than ever before, and if we don’t specifically tackle these problems, then we end up amplifying them,” he said, which is why the company is going to promote “high quality news” in its news feed.
Who’s to decide what is high quality or trusted? Zuckerberg said he will leave that to the site’s users. » Read More