Facebook Inc recently announced the launch of Facebook News in order to combat the increasingly popular ‘Fake News’ which people and brands perpetuate via Facebook.com.
Therefore, the launch of Facebook News is set to give people more control over the stories they see. In addition to this, people will have the ability to explore a wider range of their news interests, directly within the Facebook app. Apart from certain news interests, people can also get to see and read the most relevant national stories of the day.
What Categories of News will Show Up in Facebook News?
- General News: News across a range of topics.
- Topical News: News about a specific topic e.g. sports.
- Diverse News: News focused on a particular community that falls under the five racial and ethnic groups defined by the US Census e.g. Black/African-American.
- Local News: News focused on a particular city or region.
Getting into Facebook News as a Publisher
As a publisher, your content can be made available on Facebook News if you do the following.
1. Sign up as a publisher
Facebook News is coming soon (2019 and 2020 in the U.S.) and now is the best time to sign up as a publisher. To become a publisher, you will need to sign up with your Facebook page through the News Page Index. The News Page Index is a consistent way to identify news pages on Facebook. The News pages submission tab can be found under “Registrations” in your Facebook Business Manager’s settings. Once there, click on “Select Pages” (see image below).
Before you submit, make sure to verify your domain and verify your business.
Your Page and the websites associated with it will be checked in order to ensure that they follow the News guidelines. This process can take a few weeks, and you will be notified when it’s complete.
2. Your content must serve a sufficiently large audience
Each category of news has a specified size threshold. Your audience must reach a minimum number specified for your type of news. This is an additional condition provided that you have already meet all of the other criteria.
3. You must abide by the integrity standards
Facebook checks a broad range of integrity signals in determining your eligibility and further use of Facebook News. The signals include misinformation (which is identified based on third-party fact-checkers), community standard violations, clickbait, engagement bait, and scraped content.
How Far Can Your Content Go with Facebook News?
Your content will reach more people on Facebook depending on how well your content is perceived. The perception is judged by people’s engagement and interest in your topic(s).
