Facebook to hire journalists for its ‘News Tab’ curation

Facebook is hiring a “small team” of journalists to curate news for its upcoming News Tab, according to multiple media reports such as CNA and Business Insider. The team will be tasked to oversee breaking and top news stories, while the rest of the sections will be curated by algorithms.Three “news curator” job postings seen by Marketing on Facebook Careers said the company is looking for “experienced” journalists with “sound news judgement”. Minimum qualifications require more than five years of relevant working experience. The positions are based in California, New York and London. Marketing has reached out to Facebook to find out more about News Tab and the hiring, along with Asia expansion plans.[Digital Marketing Asia Conference 2019 in Singapore is back! Join us on 8-9 October as we hear from experienced practitioners and thought-leaders on how they are managing complex digital transitions and reimagining new ways for their marketing to become more customer focused, agile and interactive. Book your seats today.]The algorithms meanwhile, will determine users’ interests based on signals such as pages followed, interactions with online news and subscriptions to publications, said the reports. Speaking to the media, Facebook said that the move aims to bring a “personalised, highly relevant experience” to the users.Last week, news broke on Wall Street Journal that Facebook is reaching out to several news outlets to obtain rights for content and is willing to invest “millions of dollars” to do so. The news tab, which will be launched over the next few months, will reportedly be given a “prominent position” alongside News Feed and Messenger.Several large companies have been looking to break into the news market of late. Apple, for instance has launched Apple News+, bringing together over 300 popular magazines, leading newspapers and digital publishers within the Apple News app. They include Vogue, National Geographic Magazine, People, ELLE, The Wall Street Journal and Los Angeles Times. Google News Initiative has also been working closer with news publishers with the launch of the GNI Subscriptions Lab.Read more:Facebook shuts location apps for privacy violation: First steps in cleaning up its act?Could Facebook’s latest renaming effort prove a double-edged sword in the long run?Facebook partners AFP for third-party checking programme in MalaysiaHow Facebook’s crypto wallet Libra will change transactions as we know itFacebook tells co-founder: ‘Accountability not enforced by breaking up company’Facebook looks to get into voice assistant market