Facebook is exploring the idea of distributing articles and features from major news outlets directly to its mobile users in a new deal which could see the social network take a slice of each publication’s ad revenue.
Online media sites could in future use Facebook as a distribution platform to directly send articles to mobile users through the app, according to the New York Times.
The deal would see traditional media outlets partner with the social media giant which now claims 654 million daily mobile users. This would increase the firm’s control of the press, a move some outlets may not be keen on as Facebook is already responsible for just under a quarter of referrals to news sites.
Chris Cox, chief product officer of Facebook, told the New York Times: “We are at the very beginning of a conversation and it’s very important that we get this right.
“Because we play an increasingly important role in how people discover the news that they read every day, we feel a responsibility to work with publishers to come up with as good an experience as we can for consumers. And we want and need that to be a good experience for publishers as well.”
In August the social network changed its home page to weed out view-baiting news stories, showing its emphasis on delivering quality content to users.
