Facebook to start asking users to pay to receive the news
- Wednesday, June 14th, 2017
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Facebook is reportedly building a feature to enable users to buy subscriptions to news publications, in a bid to keep publishers onboard with its platform.
The Times reports, citing Facebook sources, the social network is looking to reward the efforts of legitimate journalism by offering publishers a means to earn on its platform. The move will
“The increasing importance of a subscription business model in supporting the high-quality journalism that contributes to the informed communities we all care about,” said the sources
Facebook is said to be learning toward allowing users to read 10 articles for free each month before being asked to pay for access.
It is likely the feature will be implemented only within Instant Articles because, though they are effective at gaining traffic, they struggle to produce as much ad revenue as other formats. It would enable users to subscribe to publishers directly from the Facebook mobile app, according to the Wall Street Journal. The feature is expected to roll out by the end of this year.