Facebook to pay ‘subset’ of news tab publishers

Facebook said Monday it plans to pay only a portion of the publishers whose stories appear in a news “tab” set to launch in the weeks ahead. Facebook recently confirmed plans for a News Tab that will be edited by seasoned journalists, in a departure from its longstanding practice of letting algorithms dictate a user’s experience. A human team will select relevant, reliable breaking and top news stories.

“The number of publishers included in the news tab will grow over time,” Facebook spokeswoman Mari Melguizo said in response to an AFP inquiry. “To ensure we’re including a range of topic areas, we’ll start by paying a subset of publishers who can provide a steady volume of fact-based and original content.” A Wall Street Journal report earlier Monday said Facebook planned to pay about a quarter of the estimated 200 news organizations whose articles will be featured.

The tab will be separate from the trademark news feed at Facebook that displays updates and content from people’s friends, according to the California-based online social network. Aside from human-curated top news, sections of the tab will rely on algorithms to figure out a user’s interests based on “signals” such as pages followed, interactions with online news or subscriptions to publications.

“Our goal with the News Tab is to provide a personalized, highly relevant experience for people,” Facebook head of news partnerships Campbell Brown said when the coming feature was revealed. However the majority of stories people see will be determined by software, according to Brown.