Facebook Or Fakebook? Some Of Us Can't Tell The Difference

This article was originally published by DriveWealth.

By now, we’re sure you’ve heard the rumors of fake news stories crowding the newsfeeds of Facebook Inc's FB over one billion monthly users. You may have even seen some of these stories – everything from false celebrity gossip to misguided political reports – which have appeared on the “trending news” bar of your Facebook home screen over the past year. The obvious problem here? Users have a very difficult time distinguishing between falsely reported news and legitimate news – especially when it’s all reported in the same place. For that reason, fake news stories were shared millions of times last year – performing among the top news content on Facebook in 2016 – and even began to incite real political debates, fights, and acts of violence. In other words, the mass sharing of fake news – on a scale unparalleled by anything the world has really ever seen before – has some serious negative side effects.

And, since this recent peak of false news reports on social media, many people have started to point fingers at Facebook and its news-sorting software. The issue begs the question: how can Facebook keep reporting news without confirming all of its sources? And, shouldn’t one of the world’s largest media companies take responsibility for the things it reports – even if Facebook isn’t writing the articles itself? Finally, shouldn’t Facebook be able to devise a system that sorts out fake news stories automatically? All valid questions.

This week, Facebook finally responded to all of these unanswered questions. On Wednesday, Facebook proved its commitment to the news industry by detailing a timeline for its new feature called “The Facebook Journalism Project.” And we think it’s about time, since 63% of Facebook users now say that they believe the site to be a relevant news source – for news outside the realm of friends and family. 

The Facebook Journalism Project will aim to create a “healthier news ecosystem” by aiming to form closer ties between the social media network and various news organizations. The full plan details collaborations with notable news platforms – including the New York Times, the Washington Post, Vox Media, FoxNews, and Buzzfeed. Not only will Facebook aim to promote the news from these organizations more frequently, but it hopes to incite users to subscribe (for free trials and later paid subscriptions) to the sites as well. Eventually, your “trending news” section could be composed of news from all of your subscriptions, instead of random, unreliable sources.

It seems that the push for more dependable, truthful journalism on social media can only build better trust in Facebook – especially from a user base that has been nothing but skeptical about Facebook’s news reporting for some time. Of course, trust in a brand can seldom hurt as far as the company’s stock is concerned, and Facebook stock proceeded to rally nearly 4% towards the end of the week after this announcement. On the other hand, news sources that enter publishing deals with Facebook through the Facebook Journalism Project might also benefit in the long run from an increase in Facebook-pushed subscription sales.

Keep your eye on the Facebook Journalism Project as it progresses, investors: if this initiative can fix the issue of fake news on Facebook; it could end up having significant effects on both your newsfeed and your portfolio!