Earlier this year we launched Facebook News in the UK, a dedicated home for news within the Facebook app, and part of our ongoing commitment to help news organizations build sustainable business models. We have partnerships in place with hundreds of national and local news outlets across the country to appear in Facebook News.
Today we’re making a further investment in the news ecosystem in the UK with the addition of a new local news section in Facebook News to help hundreds of publishers drive additional audiences to their sites and connect people to the news that matters to them most. This new feature, which first launched in the US last year, will also make it easier for people to find a greater mix of local and national reporting they are interested in.
Up to today, people were served local news from publishers they were connected with on Facebook. With the new local section, they can choose to receive news from publishers in towns and cities they live in or are interested in by using the ‘add location’ functionality. People will also be served local news based on the location they’ve set on their Facebook profile.
Sarah Brown, Facebook’s Head of News Partnerships for Northern Europe said:
“Connecting people to local news has never been so important and many people have come to rely on local outlets for the latest information throughout the pandemic. With this new feature on Facebook News we want to drive traffic to local sites, helping publishers reach new audiences. For people on Facebook, they can now see the local news they care about alongside the biggest national stories of the day.”
We also recently announced we’re extending the Community News Project for another year. The £2.25 million annual training fund in partnership with the National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ) is training reporters in 80 local newsrooms across the UK, building on the initial £4.5 million investment.
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