“Facebook, at the end of the day, is a place where people want to share things that matter to them, whether it’s a news story or their child walking.” “I think it’s a characteristic of Facebook that we’ve always understood,” she said. Melissa Bell, vice president of growth at Vox Media, said Facebook’s decision was not surprising. Many publishers were hesitant to talk about what Facebook’s latest algorithm change might mean for them. And Facebook’s move will be just another reminder that publishers do not have direct access to their online audiences on social platforms. There is also concern that some of Facebook’s products allow it to control not just the user experience but also own much of the revenue and user data.Īt a time when the relationship between publishers and Facebook is already tense, any change that de-emphasizes news content is likely to deepen concern. Publishers value the referral traffic they get from Facebook, but they increasingly fear that readers will remain on the social media site for news content rather than visit the publishers’ own properties.
![what happened to facebook friends mapper? 2016 what happened to facebook friends mapper? 2016](https://media.springernature.com/lw685/springer-static/image/art%3A10.1038%2Fsdata.2016.102/MediaObjects/41597_2016_Article_BFsdata2016102_Fig1_HTML.jpg)
And more than 40 percent of referral traffic to news sites comes from Facebook, according to data from Parse.ly, a digital publishing analytics company. Some 44 percent of adults in the United States regularly read news content on the site, according to a 2016 study by the Pew Research Center. Publishers have little choice but to deal with the changes that Facebook makes, given the dependent relationship news media companies have with the social network. Those features will also be affected by the algorithm change. Facebook is also paying a number of publishers, including The Times, to create broadcasts for Facebook Live, the company’s new live-streaming video product. Both Facebook and publishers described the move as a better, faster reading experience for users. Last year, for example, Facebook debuted Instant Articles, a product that allowed publishers to post articles directly to the social media site. That has resulted in closer partnerships between Facebook and publishers experimenting with new media products tailored specifically for the social media site. Over the last few years, publishers struggling to attract readership and draw online advertising dollars have come to view Facebook and its users as a good way to gain new audiences and lucrative revenue streams.
![what happened to facebook friends mapper? 2016 what happened to facebook friends mapper? 2016](https://int.nyt.com/data/videotape/finished/2018/09/facebook-friends-top-asset/promo4-320w.jpg)
As has long been the case, publisher content that your friends interact with will appear higher in the feed compared to posts shared directly by a publisher. It will have less of an impact, however, if most of a publisher’s traffic comes from individual users sharing and commenting on their stories and videos. Facebook plans to start making the changes as soon as this week. Facebook said it expected a drop in reach and referral traffic for publishers whose audience comes primarily to content posted by the publisher’s official Facebook page. The changes will affect all types of content posted by publishers, including links, videos, live videos and photos. “This completely highlights how ownership of the user is a central tension between news producers and platforms.” “There is now an expectation, in general, on the part of publishers that platforms will change, and that they won’t necessarily be informed how they will change,” said Emily Bell, director at the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia University. Every acre we protect, every river mile restored, every species brought back from the brink, begins with you.It is also a reminder that while Facebook is vastly important to the long-term growth of news media companies, from older outlets like The New York Times and The Washington Post to upstarts like BuzzFeed, Vice and Vox Media, publishers rank lower on Facebook’s list of priorities. Stand up for our natural world with The Nature Conservancy. Work alongside TNC staff, partners and other volunteers to care for nature, and discover unique events, tours and activities across the country. Explore how we've evolved to tackle some of the world's greatest challenges.Įxplore the latest thinking from our experts on some of the most significant challenges we face today, including climate change, food and water security, and city growth. It is who we are and how we work that has brought more than 65 years of tangible lasting results.