Facebook News arrives in France: a space dedicated to current events
This February 15 marks the launch of Facebook News in France. This is a new section on the social network which lists the news of several media. The rollout is for some users today, everyone will have it by May.
Implementation of Facebook News in France
The launch of Facebook News in France was possible following several agreements signed with national and regional media. Thus, Meta, the parent company of the social network, signed with the Alliance of the General Information Press (APIG), which made it possible to conclude agreements with more than a hundred media. As such, many national dailies such as 20 Minutes, La Croix, Le Figaro, Le Journal du Dimanche, Le Parisien and Les Echos are included from the launch, as well as local dailies and weeklies such as La Dépêche du Midi, La Provence, La Voix du Nord, Le Dauphiné Libéré, Le Progrès, Le Télégramme, Nice-Matin or Sud Ouest. Other agreements concern partnerships with BFMTV, Capital, Femme Actuelle, Gala, Geo, L’Équipe, L’Express, Liberation, RMC and Here.
Another important agreement: that with Media Services, a subsidiary of AFP. The group will ensure that Facebook News provides a fair overview of information published by publishers and broadcasters, in a variety of areas ranging from politics to international news, entertainment and science.
A space to find all the news
The platform allows you to see the main headlines and news of the day, as well as information personalized according to your interests. During news highlights, the service provides real-time news digests, highlighting coverage on the most important topics. Also, it allows users to control the articles they see in the app, and explore news on a wide range of topics. Please note that news articles shared by people and Pages will continue to appear in News Feed, as they do today.
The main features of Facebook News are:
- Top news, selected by a team of independent journalists, to follow the news throughout the day
- Personalization, which is based on the news that users read, share and follow, so that they can discover new media
- Thematic sections to dive into the economy, entertainment, health, science and technology and sport
- Control tools, for users to choose which articles, topics or publishers they want to see
- “Collections”, which delve into major current topics, such as the upcoming elections or a major sporting event, through several articles or videos
France becomes the fifth country where Facebook News is launched. First there was the United States in 2020, the United Kingdom in January 2021, Germany in May and then Australia in August.
