4 ms·
A lot of people are using Facebook as their newsfeed, so I think it's not quite honest to claim that Facebook is not gaining anything from sharing news stories.
by yarcob 6y ago
A lot of people are using Facebook as their newsfeed, so I think it's not quite honest to claim that Facebook is not gaining anything from sharing news stories.
Facebook would be a lot less compelling without news.
People used to browse headlines on newspaper sites, then Facebook came and aggregated all the headlines, and "stole" all the visitors of the news sites.
Reporting on stories is a lot of effort (especially local stories where you can't just copy paste some press release), and Facebook wants to put the headlines on their website for free. Publishers should be happy about the exposure!
I understand that publishers are pissed. They are doing the work, but Facebook makes money from the content, and all they get in exchange is a small percentage of people who view a post actually click through to read the full story.
- efwfwef 6y ago> Facebook would be a lot less compelling without news. Yet everyone complains here (me included) that Facebook should go back to its roots, and offer news about your friends only
- yarcob 6y agoYes, but the people complaining here are not really Facebooks core audience anymore. Facebook has basically become a news sharing platform, because that's how they keep people "engaged". Most people just don't have enough relatives that they can browse baby photos all day. But there's an endless stream of news headlines...
- gorgoiler 6y agoIf there’s market value for news then news sellers should stop giving it away for free and starting charging a price. If press barons instead want to leverage free news to gain power and influence then who cares if the cost of doing so in 2021 is much higher than in 1981? So what if the emergence of Google et al indirectly pushed up the price of tabloid influence over democracy?
- yarcob 6y ago> news sellers should stop giving it away for free and starting charging a price But that's exactly what they are trying to do? The news stories obviously have a value for Facebook, and the publishers are trying to get them to pay for it. Radio stations also pay royalties to play music, why shouldn't websites have to pay royalties for content they show in their feeds?
- gorgoiler 6y agoI’m not sure the analogy holds. Radio in its current form is a marketing device for new music and stations get paid by record labels in order to feature new releases.