Facebook starts testing News, its new section for journalism

However, they said that creating a specific tab focused on journalism gives people more control over the stories they see, and the ability to explore a wider range of their news interests, directly within the Facebook app.

Brown and Sarantakos added that the News tab was developed in consultation with publishers, and also based on feedback from a survey of more than 100,000 Facebook users in the United States earlier this year.

It sounds like Facebook News will use both human editors and algorithms to determine which stories you see an unusual move for a company thats been hesitant to police the content posted by users and advertisers. Specifically, there will be a section called Todays Stories, curated by a team of journalists to highlight the biggest national news stories of the day.

Youll be able to hide articles, topics and publishers that you dont want to see, and to browse sections devoted to business, entertainment, health, science and technology, and sports topics where Facebook users apparently felt underserved.

Regarding personalization, publishers worry that machine learning has limits and theyre right, Brown and Sarantakos wrote.

Nonetheless, they suggested that algorithms will be driving the majority of Facebook News, and that theyll be working to ensure that those algorithms are also surfacing new forms of journalism in the digital age, including individual, independent journalism.

Brown and Sarantakos said they must be part of Facebooks News Page Index, and also by abide by the companys Publisher Guidelines, which includes prohibitions against misinformation and hate speech.