Having just taken part in a major transition from print media to the web, it seems as though some of the top news and content providers may soon be moving their product once again.
Facebook has held discussions with at least six media companies in recent months about the possibility of hosting their content directly on the social network. If true, this would mean that Facebook users wouldn’t have to leave the site to catch up on the latest happenings or viral videos from around the country and the world.
Such a drastic move would have been unheard of just a few years ago but considering Facebook now has more than 1.4 billion active monthly users at its disposal, the proposition appears to at least be under consideration.
With the current model, media companies and other content-producing sites use Facebook to drive traffic to their sites. That traffic has been slowing as of late as Facebook has turned its attention to video. Even still, Facebook provides many with adequate traffic that generates more ad views which in turn produce additional revenue that most websites use to pay the bills and remain online.
Facebook could – and is reportedly planning to – provide an ad-based revenue sharing model for content providers. But by shifting content to Facebook, sites would be turning away faithful readers as well as demographics about its readership. Lower traffic could make it harder for sites to command top dollar for their advertising slots, etc.
BuzzFeed, The New York Times and National Geographic are expected to be the initial partners once testing of the new format gets under way in the coming months.
https://www.techspot.com/news/60147-facebook-working-popular-news-sites-host-content-directly.html
