Meta Cuts Funding for US News Publishers (axios.com) 39
Engadget writes that "After Meta's revenue shrank for the first time in its history, the company has reportedly told publishers it will no longer pay for content to run in Facebook's News Tab, according to Axios."
Axios notes it's the end of three-year deals Facebook brokers in 2019 with news publishers. At the time, the company was ramping up its investment in news and hired journalists to help direct publisher traffic to its new tab for news. The deals were worth roughly $105 million in the U.S., sources told Axios. In addition to that, the company spent around $90 million on news videos for the company's video tab called "Watch."
"A lot has changed since we signed deals three years ago to test bringing additional news links to Facebook News in the U.S. Most people do not come to Facebook for news, and as a business it doesn't make sense to over-invest in areas that don't align with user preferences," a Facebook spokesperson told Axios.
Axios notes it's the end of three-year deals Facebook brokers in 2019 with news publishers. At the time, the company was ramping up its investment in news and hired journalists to help direct publisher traffic to its new tab for news. The deals were worth roughly $105 million in the U.S., sources told Axios. In addition to that, the company spent around $90 million on news videos for the company's video tab called "Watch."
"A lot has changed since we signed deals three years ago to test bringing additional news links to Facebook News in the U.S. Most people do not come to Facebook for news, and as a business it doesn't make sense to over-invest in areas that don't align with user preferences," a Facebook spokesperson told Axios.
But it makes sense to lose 2 BILLION on VR (Score:4)
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Hopefully when it runs them out of business entirely.
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The part that really gets me about the VR play is how they have been ignoring their own customers when they say things like "can we have a way to remove apps from our libraries?"
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VR is an emerging growth industry still on an exponential incline. The idea that people go to Facebook for news is what is the dumpster fire.
People like you criticised Microsoft's entry into gaming as well citing the insane losses made during their growth phase. Now the Xbox division is one of their primary income streams.
They are called Facebook (Score:1)
Stop trying to wash their name with the "Meta" crap. The summary already clearly said it was Facebook's News tab, the headline should also use "Facebook". "Google" was used frequently in headlines rather than "Alphabet", why do /. editors try to avoid using "Facebook" and keep using "Meta"?
Meta is just an empty holding company used to white wash the Facebook brand, stop helping them do it. Facebook are cyberstalkers and should be remembered as such.
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"Meta" is the new name for Facebook.
"Alphabet" is not a new name for Google. Google is still Google. Alphabet is a holding company that owns Google but also owns non-Google subsidiaries such as X Development, Calico, Nest, Verily, Fiber, Makani, CapitalG, and GV.
The situations are not the same.
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Until Meta changes that and persists with their individual branding of "Facebook", "Instagram", etc., then, technicall
Pushing fiction instead (Score:4, Insightful)
Now Facebook can return to its pure bullshit roots.
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return?
it never left pushing bullshit
Re:Pushing fiction instead (Score:4, Funny)
Why should they pay for bullshit when they can get plenty of it for free?
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"Most people do not come to Facebook for news, and as a business it doesn't make sense to over-invest in areas that don't align with user preferences," a Facebook spokesperson told Axios.
Sorry, some typos crept into that, it should have read:
"Most people do not come to Facebook for factual news, and as a business it doesn't make sense to over-invest in areas that don't align with user preferences for prejudice-confirming fiction" a Facebook spokesperson told Axios.
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Why do big, formerly successful companies do this? Cancel the only good bits and keep the worst parts.
Netflix is the same, all the good stuff that makes me want to subscribe is cancelled. It's as if they think "most of our service is shit, people must like shit".
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Yeah...It's netflix fault that 20 new streaming services have launched since they have and many of those services won't license out their content, making it only available on their platform.
The best thing netflix had was a slew of everyone else's content licensed. Most of their own content is only okay or gets cancelled before it's time.
I still have my netflix account and still find value in it but obviously not as much. Not sure how they can do better other then letting their in-house shows run for a 4th o
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with the stipulation that both sides are covered
The problem with this rule is it assumes there are only two sides.
Apple News isn't bad, but it definitely has its slant.
The slant should be tailored to your preferences. It's a news aggregator that feeds you content based on your viewing habits. Of course, that can be problematic, too, because it's less likely to present viewpoints that challenge your worldview.
Re: Great, more Newsmax and OANN, less Reuters and (Score:2)
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What always stood out about Buttigieg during the last cycle was how he always seemed to have an actual opinion rather than just a sound byte.
He still shows up from time to time outside of his actual role as secretary of transportation. He's quick-witted and knows his stuff, but as I said, these days that's not enough. There are plenty of people who won't listen to what you have to say the moment they find out you're one of those people they hate. His argument may be convincing, but it gets dismissed out of hand out of prejudice.
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Want unbiased (well, unbiased as per US biases) news coverage? You have to go to the CBC, BBC, Spiegel, or other news sites.
Al Jazeera is pretty good too, and they cover Africa, Asia, and the Middle East far better than any other news source, which usually pretty much ignore those areas unless there's a famine or a war.
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I totally agree with you about the Equal Time Rule, but I have to call out the CBC and BBC for being fairly biased, these days. On social issues, CBC and BBC are indistinguishable from NPR.
Sorry guys, we're not gonna pay for real news (Score:2)
Fake news is free, and best of all it's constantly refreshing itself without any investment on our part!
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Fake news is free, and best of all it's constantly refreshing itself without any investment on our part!
And it often suits our owner's political aganda.
Users don't come for news (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: Users don't come for news (Score:2)
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Actually, I think Meta's problem is that people have gotten tired of all of that and just turned off facebook instead.
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They come for the disinformation and hate speech
Why would you need to go all the way over there for that? Just say you're a Republican and you support Trump and you'll get all the disinformation and hate speech coming at you that one person could possibly ever want. ;)
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You can also say you're a Republican and don't support Trump and get a bunch of disinformation and hate speech coming at you. Just from a different group. Or say you're a Democrat, or that you favor a 3rd party regardless of your opinion of Trump.
And that gets to the root of what is wrong with the country. Until the invective slows to a trickle, we (or at least the members of Congress) will never even really start trying to work together for a common purpose. Wow - I date myself that I remember there were
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Honestly, a great point. We seem to be forgetting more and more that we're all neighbors, brothers and sisters, and that our fates are linked to each other. We aren't divided into classes or tribes unless we let ourselves be, to our shared detriment.
Thanks for reminding me, and us! Much love.
Facebook has a news tab? (Score:3)
Who knew?
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Just checked, couldn't see it. Solid investment that.
No more Kylie-Jenner-keepin-it-real news? (Score:2)
Meta already feels like a better place.
Could they do the same with Instagram?
We know where we get our news from... (Score:2)
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My barber tells me he listens to Joe. To avoid being stabbed with scissors, I smile politely and avoid saying the words "Joe Rogan constantly speaks out of his arse, and I look down on anyone who listens to his podcast".
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Why do you think this? Because Joe dared go against The Narrative?
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I find it best to avoid politics and religion when getting a service from someone I do not know. Plenty to talk about with your hairdresser then politics and religion and safer too.
Fakebook (Score:1)