By Nikita Geldenhuys

In late June 2016, Facebook made a change to its News Feed ranking to prioritise content posted by friends over content from Pages. Some publishers and media companies were reportedly worried that the change would affect the amount of traffic they receive from the social network.

Others saw this as proof that publishers are not a priority for Facebook. These fears join concerns that Facebook’s Newsfeed and Instant Articles are driving traffic away from publisher websites and that it is, in a way, becoming a replacements for news sites. Do South African publishers share these sentiments? And are these fears legitimate?

The love-hate relationship between Facebook and publishers

In September, Earl J. Wilkinson, the executive director and CEO of the International News Media Association, wrote on The Earl Blog that “as the relationship between publishers and Facebook has become more intertwined, bewildering emotional issues related to trust and control have emerged”.

One concern is that advertising revenue is being diverted away from online news sites as Facebook grows its own advert offerings, says Wilkinson. He explains the power relationship between publishers and Facebook is also a headache for news organisations; “Publishers are accustomed to top-down relationships with vendors. Yet with Facebook, we are a fly on the back of a wildebeest.”

Facebook’s power comes with equal responsibility

The social network’s latest ‘glitches’ regarding editorial content on its site have not helped improve its relationship with news organisations. It removed a famous photo of a naked child fleeing an attack during the Vietnam War from the Norwegian daily newspaper Aftenposten’s Page. After public outcry, the image was reinstated.

Wilkinson notes publishers don’t necessarily fear the algorithm that mistakenly identified the image as child pornography. “We fear the power – and the potential power. Over traffic. Over serendipity. Over size and scale. Over algorithmic mysteries. Over lack of ownership of an increasingly concentrated distribution channel.”

News surrounding Facebook’s updates is not all bad though. Two months after its algorithm change, a report by Parsely indicated the change had little effect on the traffic of the publishers it surveyed. It found neither the June 2016 Facebook algorithm change nor the company’s plan to eradicate clickbait affected their traffic.

How did the algorithm change affect South African publishers?

According to Social Bakers, the South African publication Speed & Sound Magazine is currently one of the top 10 media organisations on Facebook in terms of Page Likes in South Africa. Following the algorithm update, this publication did notice a drop in engagement with its conventional posts.

“We are heavily reliant on using our Facebook Page to drive traffic to our website, although we also use Twitter and Instagram,” says Zak Abba, the magazine’s social media manager and national sales executive.

Facebook’s changes may pose a potential threat to not only publisher’s referral traffic, but also their ad revenue. Naushad Khan, the Western Cape representative of the Association of Independent Publishers, believes Facebook’s Instant Stories offering is especially dangerous to online publishers.

Khan, also the MD of the media company RaniCommSA and publisher of the digital publication The Next 48hOURS, feels publishing full stories and pictures on Facebook gives readers free news. “As a publisher, if you have readers coming to your own website, you can build traffic that can be monetised.”

Not all news organisations are feeling the pinch. Mandisa Mbele, public relations officer at the National Press Club, says that the organisation hasn't received any complaints from its members regarding the impact of the updated algorithm. “When Facebook announced their algorithm change, some people were jittery but they've learnt to navigate through it and adapt to the changes.”

The need for a fresh perspective

Mbele explains that although the recent changes make things “uncomfortable” for publishers, organisations need to find ways to interest their audiences. “A change in the status quo is an opportunity to be creative. The organisations that have done that really well are the ones that stayed true to their audiences. Providing accurate, newsworthy content, they have impeccable timing of when to place content and they know what works for their audiences.”

Speed and Sound Magazine believes the trick to working around the challenges Facebook pose is to think laterally of ways to uplift social media engagement. Abba feels Facebook and publishers can co-exist, and that the social network can be “utilised as a tool to give the end user a superior way to interact and consume news”.

“To think of a magazine or blog as only that is short sighted. You need to create an entity that utilises all forms of media at its disposal to give the end user a more rewarding experience of your brand.”

Despite the challenges Facebook may pose for companies looking to monetise their news websites, Khan believes the platform can benefit publishers – especially smaller news organisations. The love-hate or ‘frenemy’ relationship between Facebook and publishers seems to be characterised by this interplay between the benefits the platform offer publishers and the danger it poses to both their ad revenue and freedom of speech.

It remains to be seen whether and how Facebook will respond to the concerns of publishers, and what news organisations will do to make the most of the tricky space in which they find themselves.