As more people read news on Facebook, the social network steadily becomes a place where more news are consumed.
But the thing is, there a lot of fake news out there, and Facebook doesn't want to be blamed.
Facebook doesn't want to hear people say "I read it on Facebook" when it comes to bad or hoaxes. So in order to straighten things up a bit, Facebook is giving back publishers a piece of their identities, allowing them to display their logo beside headlines in the trending and search section of Facebook.
This way, readers will know the source of information. So Facebook is no more to blame.
According to Facebook, is a sharp decline in knowing just where you’re getting your news. Answers like, “I read it on Facebook,” are becoming increasingly common, although Facebook itself doesn't publish much contents beside from its official blogs and press releases.
In its blog announcement, Facebook noted that a Pew Research survey said that only 56 percent of readers can recall the source of news they read on social media sites.
Beside fake news problem, this is also a major problem for publishers, who are dissociated for the stories they write when someone assumes that their news just comes from "Facebook."
So for publishers, being allowed to show their logo is certainly a welcome move. Brand recognition is essential to get attention, and it has become more difficult when headlines and story layouts from various publishers that are put on one place tend to look the same.
"By surfacing publisher logos next to article links, we want to make it easier for publishers to extend their brand identity on Facebook—to enhance people's awareness of the source of content," wrote the social network that has plans to expand the design where publishers can show their logos to all places that news appear on the platform.
Logos next to articles is just one of the recommendations by Facebook's Journalism Project, which was launched in January. The project is one way Facebook works with media partners to evolve the platform so publishers can keep posting content there while finding new sources of revenue and audiences.
In order for their logos to appear on Facebook's desktop and mobile, as well as when users search for topics, publishers will need to upload their logos first. The change is small, but it's certainly a big deal for both Facebook and publishers.
