Facebook changes algorithm for News Content

Facebook will now be prioritizing original reporting and news stories with transparent authorship on the Home Feed.

Consequently, original news articles and the ones with editorial transparency will be ranked higher in the Home Feed of Facebook, but will also be in accordance with the various ranking signals. Facebook anticipates most publishers won't see any significant changes, but original reporting may see a spike in distribution.

Original News

Original reporting has been prioritized on Facebook because in-depth investigations, collation of expert opinions, and uncovering critical updates take a considerable amount of bandwidth and proficiency.

The platform will sieve through the groups of articles that develop stories on a particular topic, identify the ones cited as the 'original source', and prioritize them.

This is commencing with English and will be extended to other languages. The approach to citing the 'original source' may change later.

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When multiple articles on one topic are available in a user's feed, the more original one will be boosted, as the ones shown in Feed are from the publisher the user or their friends follow.

Transparent Authorship

Bylines of news articles, staff page on the publisher's website that contains information such as full names of reporters and editorial crew will be reviewed.

News content that does not provide transparent information about the editorial staff will be demoted. This action has been taken because Facebook reckons publishers who do not provide this information lack credibility and produce content with clickbait or ad farms.

This action is executed in limited markets as in some geographies transparent information can out journalists at risk. The standards for prioritizing original articles and transparent authorship has been developed in consultation with reporting & broadcasting organizations and individuals.