Facebook is testing out a new tab in its mobile app called Facebook News.
According to The Verge, the feature is rolling out to a few hundred thousand in the U.S. and features news articles from big publications like The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and BuzzFeed.
Facebook said it intends to pay some of the publishers but not all. It indicated that the publications participating will get a new revenue stream.
“People want and benefit from personalized experiences on Facebook, but we know there is reporting that transcends individual experience,” Facebook said in a blog post. “We want to support both.”
It was previously reported that Facebook plans to hire veteran journalists to curate the news. While most of the articles will be generated algorithmically, the hired journalists will curate the top stories.
The tab is personalized based on what you read and it will reflect what you are interested in over time, Facebook said.
You are also able to personalize the tab, which means users will be able to hide specific publishers, articles and subjects they’re not interested in.
In the blog post, Facebook said that the curators are independent and “free from editorial intervention by anyone at the company.” There’s also a guideline that is used for selecting stories that are curated.
Facebook doesn’t indicate how many publishers are involved, but there is a mix of general, local, topical and news serving diverse communities, The Verge noted.
If you are a publisher that wants to participate, you’ll need to register as news pages and follow the publisher guidelines.
It is unclear if this is coming to Canada yet. MobileSyrup has reached out to Facebook to learn if the service will be coming to Canada.
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