Page 24 - ARUBA TODAY

A24 TECHNOLOGY
Friday 13 September 2019
Facebook expands new tool aiming to shrink ‘news deserts’

By BARBARA ORTUTAY data from its test partners.
AP Technology Writer “(With the) news feed, peo-
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — ple scroll through passive-
Facebook is trying to coax ly,” said Jimmy O’Keefe, a
“news deserts” into bloom product marketing man-
with the second major ex- ager at Facebook. “We
pansion of a tool that ex- see that people engage
poses people to more local with articles more than they
news and information. But would in news feed.”
the social network con- Outside researchers study-
fesses that it still has a lot to ing local news data pro-
learn. vided by Facebook found
The social media giant said that about half of the
Thursday it is expanding its news stories in the Today
“Today In” service to 6,000 In feature met what they
cities and towns across the called a “critical informa-
U.S., up from 400 in its previ- tion need” in the communi-
ous iteration . Launched in ties it served. This could be
early 2018, the service lets helpful for news publishers
Facebook users opt into lo- in determining coverage
cal news and information priorities and for Facebook
from local organizations. as it tweaks how it presents
Such news can include This July 16, 2013, file photo shows a sign at Facebook headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif. Facebook news to its users.
missing-person alerts, local is trying to coax “news deserts” into bloom with the expansion of a tool that provides people with Facebook has also learned
election results, road clo- local news and information, but says it still has a lot to learn. that local news doesn’t
sures and crime reports. Associated Press work like national news. Po-
The tool lives within the out objectionable content. support journalism, while only allows posts from pub- litical stories, for instance,
Facebook app; turning it Facebook employs no hu- also noting that the media lishers registered with its don’t generate a lot of
on adds local updates to man editors for Today In, industry has been in de- “News page index,” which local interest. When re-
a user’s regular news feed. so tweaking its algorithm to cline “for a very long time.” means they meet guide- searchers looked at the
In areas with scant local find such good local stories Local news is just one part lines such as a focus on types of news stories Face-
news, Facebook will add has been a complicated of the Today In feature, current events and infor- book showed and how us-
relevant articles from sur- process. Does a road clo- which also includes posts mation, citing sources and ers interacted with them,
rounding areas. sure matter if it’s 100 miles from local groups along including dates and don’t finding that Facebook us-
The service won’t automat- away? How about a mur- with events and commu- have a record of publishing ers interacted the most
ically turn on for people der? “There is no silver bul- nity announcements from false news and misinforma- with stories serving a critical
even in the areas it serves, let,” said Campbell Brown, schools and governments. tion. This means that obitu- need — such as informa-
which could limit its reach. head of global news part- A news section within the aries from funeral homes, or tion on emergencies, trans-
So far, Facebook says, 1.6 nerships at Facebook, in an section shows stories from real estate posts — both of portation and health. While
million people have acti- interview. “We really want local newspapers, blogs which previously showed there were more “non-crit-
vated Today In. They re- to help publishers address and TV stations. Facebook up under “news” — are no ical” stories available, on
ceive news from some 1,200 challenges in local mar- isn’t paying licensing fees longer eligible. sports, for instance, people
publishers every week. kets.” or sharing ad revenue with The company says publish- didn’t interact with those to
The service aggregates Brown, a former news an- these outlets, but says the ers featured in Today In see the same degree. The re-
posts from the official Face- chor and host at NBC and tool is driving new readers a significant increase “re- searchers —Matthew We-
book pages for news or- CNN, said local reporting to local news outlets. ferral traffic” to their web- ber at the University of Min-
ganizations, government remains the “most impor- Already, Facebook says it’s sites from Facebook, more nesota and Peter Andriga
agencies and community tant” form of journalism learned from publishers’ so than when people see and Philip Napoli at Duke
groups like dog shelters. It today. She said Facebook input about what doesn’t the same stories in their reg- University —received no
uses software filters to weed has a “responsibility” to work. For instance, it now ular news feed, based on funding from Facebook.q

Google settles with labor

board over employee speech

BY RACHEL LERMAN
AP Technology Writer
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Google has reached a settlement over employees’ ability to
speak out about workplace issues after a former worker filed a complaint.
Under the settlement with the National Labor Relations Board, Google said, the com-
pany will post notices to remind employees of their federal rights. That includes the abil-
ity to talk to each other about workplace conditions and push for changes such as pay
raises and safety improvements.
A Wall Street Journal report says the tech giant also has to make sure employees know
they are allowed to discuss matters with the media and with each other. Google did not
specifically address how employees can talk about issues outside the company, and
the NLRB has not yet made the settlement public.
Google employees are known for being some of the most outspoken in the tech indus-
In this May 1, 2019, file photo, a person walks past a Google sign try and have advocated for such topics as equal pay and sexual misconduct investi-
in San Francisco. Google says it’s reached a settlement over gations. Thousands of employees walked out of work last fall to protest how Google
employees’ ability to speak out about workplace issues.
Associated Press handled the departure of an executive accused of sexual misconduct. q