Facebook To Launch New Platform For Entrepreneurial Journalists: Report

Facebook Inc FB is exploring a new publishing platform to allow journalists to create their own websites and newsletters.

What Happened: The yet-to-be-named new platform will be integrated with Facebook’s pages platform, Axios reports.

The platform will be free to use., and journalists will be able to publish videos and update their Facebook stories as well as publish articles.

Journalists will also be able to build their own websites using Facebook’s platform and will be able to view metrics to increase readership and tailor content to their audiences, the report said. 

Why It Matters: The news platform is yet another move Facebook is taking to expand into the media industry.

Back in 2019 Facebook, launched its News Tab in the U.S. and has since rolled out the feature internationally, launching in the U.K. in January of this year.

Facebook pays millions of dollars to license stories from its media partners to provide news content for its News Tab platform.

On Tuesday, it was also announced that Rupert Murdoch's News Corp NWSA  signed a deal with Facebook that will allow Australia’s 17 million Facebook users to access articles from News Corp.’s newsroom network.

What’s More: Newsrooms, which have seen further financial strain due to the pandemic, have seen a number of high-profile reporters leave their jobs and pivot to launching their own email newsletters. Facebook’s new platform will enable these entrepreneurial journalists to reach their readers through a single platform.

What’s Next: Facebook plans to pay some journalists to produce content in the initial testing phase of its platform. Eventually, Facebook plans to allow journalists to create revenue streams through its new platform by offering readers subscriptions.