Facebook’s battle against fake news, while deepening its relationship with media platform, continues in 2017. In an attempt to boost a healthy news ecosystem where journalism can thrive, Facebook has launched a program to establish stronger ties between Facebook and the news industry. The social media platform will be collaborating with news organizations to develop products, learn from journalists about ways it can be a better partner, and work with publishers and educators on how it can equip people with the knowledge they need, in order to be informed readers in the digital age.
The Facebook Journalism Project will work in three ways. It will better serve the needs of people on Facebook, and those of its partners, as they work together to develop products. While Facebook has worked with several news partners on this in the past, as part of the Project it will begin an “even deeper collaboration” with news organizations across the spectrum, connecting its product and engineering teams so that it can build together from the early stages of the product development process. The project will lead to new storytelling formats, inclusion of local news and collaborate on existing and emerging business models.
The project will also have training and tools for journalists. In addition to the newsroom training that Facebook currently offers, it will now conduct a series of e-learning courses on its products, tools and services for journalists. Facebook will expand these to nine additional languages, and partner with Poynter to launch a certificate curriculum for journalists in the months ahead.
Facebook’s recent acquisition of CrowdTangle, a tool to surface stories, measure their social performance and identify influencers, will also come in play here. CrowdTangle will be free for Facebook partners.
Facebook Journalism Project will also help with eyewitness media. Eyewitnesses who upload videos and images during breaking news events have become sources for journalists. Facebook is a member of the First Draft Partner Network, a coalition of platforms and 80+ publishers, that works together to provide practical and ethical guidance in how to find, verify and publish content sourced from the social web. Facebook will increase its commitment to First Draft, helping them establish a virtual verification community and more.
As Facebook seeks to support journalism, it will also work on new ways to help give people information so they can make smart choices about the news they read — and have meaningful conversations about what they care about. Some of this will happen in direct partnership with journalists; at other points Facebook will work with educators and researchers. Facebook’s main areas of focus initially will be promoting news literacy and continuing efforts to curb news hoaxes.
