Facebook launches news wire service

DUBLIN — Facebook has joined forces with News Corp-owned Storyful to launch FB Newswire, which aims to make it easier for journalists and newsrooms to “find, share and embed newsworthy content from Facebook” in their work.

The companies hope that FB Newswire will be a useful resource for journalists to aggregate newsworthy content shared publicly on Facebook by individuals and organisations across the world.

FB Newswire is powered by Storyful, which bills itself as a social news agency — it discovers, verifies, acquires and distributes timely video and user-generated content, including original photos, videos and status updates.

More than 1 billion people now use Facebook globally, with one of its key functions being enabling users to discover, explore and participate in news-making events around the world.

Storyful, which was founded in 2010 and is based in Dublin, was bought by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp in December last year for £15 million (S$32 million), making it the publishing company’s first acquisition following the group’s split into two publicly traded businesses.

Ms Aine Kerr, the Storyful managing editor, said: “Storyful’s discovery technology and expert journalists will bring a new layer of verification, expert curation and community engagement to content on (Facebook).”

Chief executive of News Corp Robert Thomson said “Storyful is bringing traditional journalistic values to contemporary video, separating the substantial from the superficial and the real from the fake.”

It has set a benchmark for the authentication of user-generated content and is becoming increasingly adept at monetising that content, he said.

Mr Andy Mitchell, Facebook’s director of news and global media partnerships, said, “In Storyful, we’re excited to have found a partner with a track record of understanding both the potential of the social web as a key resource for media as well as the tools that newsrooms need to utilise it.” THE GUARDIAN