Facebook Rolls Out News Tab With Human Touch, Admitting Algorithms Can't Do It All

Facebook began rolling out its news tab Friday for a limited number of users, showcasing articles from local publications in major metropolitan areas and addressing concerns over the costs of producing original content.

The curated news section was made available to 200,000 of the social media giant’s 2 billion users and was expected to make it more widely available after the first of the year. The service will appear on phone apps, not the platform’s webpage, and have four sections: today’s stories, a human curated section; personalization, an algorithmically curated area; topics that include business, entertainment, health, science, tech and sports; and subscriptions that will include subscriptions linked to a user’s Facebook account.

“As we looked to build a place where people can find more news on Facebook, we changed our approach to gather insight from journalists and publishers before we started developing a product,” Facebook said in a press release unveiling the section.

The Wall Street Journal said the service will include ABC News, NBC News, Fox News, Condé Nast, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Bloomberg Media and USA Today publisher Gannett Co. Also participating are Wall Street Journal, BuzzFeed News, Business Insider and the Washington Post. USA Today reported the service will include the Dallas Morning News, the Chicago Tribune and the Boston Globe, as well.

Facebook has entered licensing agreements with its media partners. Fees to News Corp. alone, which covers the New York Post, the Wall Street Journal and other Dow Jones publications, were said to exceed $10 million, the Journal said.

News organizations have been struggling financially as they have tried to develop a strategy for earning revenue from the internet. Many have put up pay walls, which hides content from consumers who decline to pay up.

“We’re pleased to partner with Facebook on their efforts to highlight news from trusted, high-quality publishers for their audience," said Maribel Perez Wadsworth, president of the USA Today Network and publisher of USA Today. "It’s also a big step forward that Facebook is investing in trust and quality by licensing content from news publishers for the first time."

The initial phase is to showcase articles from New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, Philadelphia, Houston, Washington, Miami, Atlanta and Boston.

Facebook has run into sharp criticism for the proliferation of fake stories that have circulated on the platform, including one during the 2016 presidential election cycle accusing Hillary Clinton of being involved in a child trafficking ring operating out of a Washington pizza parlor.