Facebook's business is now 'e-commerce' and 'news'

 Facebook's business is now 'e-commerce' and 'news'

Facebook

Many ask, Facebook e-commerce, or the media? Facebook authorities call it a technology company. However, it is now clear that the business is growing with Facebook's 'e-commerce' and 'news'. A section called 'Shop' is being launched on Facebook's main app, and the 'Live Shopping' facility on Instagram is getting bigger. The Facebook News service is being expanded to the United Kingdom, Germany, France, India, and Brazil.

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According to a report by the technology website TechCrunch, Facebook is launching a number of new e-commerce features on its flagship app and Instagram.

Currently, many businesses have gone online due to the Corona epidemic. Last May, Facebook announced that it would allow merchants to open shops on Facebook, which can be seen on Facebook and Instagram. Instagram has recently redesigned the shop part. This allows the user to easily see the products of his favorite brand. Facebook will now add this feature to the Facebook app. They have already started testing the new feature in the United States. It has been named 'Facebook Shop'. In this shop, Facebook will display the products of different traders like an e-commerce site.

According to TechCrunch, along with e-commerce, Facebook is now focused on working with news. The special section they launched in the United States last June called Facebook News is now expanding internationally. The Facebook News section is being expanded to five more countries, including the United States.

George Lee, head of Facebook's product management department, said their goal is to add something new to the Facebook app and to the Facebook community, which was not there before. Facebook will work to further improve the user experience.

For those who want to run a shop on Facebook, Facebook has the opportunity to create new designs, easy sorting products, and create automated shops. It will have new messaging options so that customers can send messages to the seller using Messenger, WhatsApp, or Instagram Direct. In the United States, the facility of checkout or payment is also being added to Instagram. After selling the product, Facebook will deduct a certain fee from there. Apart from this, live shows have been launched on Instagram in the United States.

According to TechCrunch, in addition to e-commerce, Facebook is now focused on working with the news. The special section they launched in the United States last June called Facebook News is now expanding internationally. The Facebook News section is being expanded to five more countries, including the United States. Facebook News will be launched in these countries within the next six months to a year. Facebook will enter into agreements with various media and publishers to keep this section running. The company has already promised to pay news publishers in the United States. However, he did not disclose what kind of plans will be followed in other countries. However, the experience indicates that it will not match the United States. 

The customer's habits and reading style are different in different countries. We will work closely with news partners in each country to provide the customer with a valuable experience. We can also respect publishers' business models

Campbell Brown, Vice President, Facebook's Global News Partnership

Campbell Brown, vice president of Facebook's Global News Partnership, said: "Consumer habits and reading patterns vary from country to country. We will work closely with news partners in each country to provide valuable customer experience. Besides, we can respect the business model of publishers. '

However, in order to enter the international market with Facebook news, Facebook has to face some rules and regulations. In Australia, the company is already facing obstacles with Facebook News. Both Facebook and Google are required to pay for news coverage. The European Union has similar laws. In France, for example, Google has been instructed to pay for search and Google News.

Expanding Facebook News to five new countries means that Facebook authorities have successfully negotiated with regulators in these countries. However, there is a lot of criticism around the world about spreading fake news and fake information on Facebook. It remains to be seen how successful Facebook News will be. 

Earlier in 2016, Facebook authorities said, Facebook does not want to be a media. So they have dropped the controversial 'trending' feature of the site. There was a huge controversy at that time about the trending feature of Facebook. The debate is over the selection of different news in its algorithm. Since algorithms cannot sort news accurately, fake news often becomes trending and spreads quickly. At the time, Facebook said it had dropped the trending feature to provide new experiences in future news coverage. Then Facebook brings Instagram articles for news publishers. But it did not become very popular. Then Facebook leaned towards the video. They began to value the ‘Facebook Watch’, a feature specific to news videos. It's basically Facebook's video hub like YouTube.

In the face of controversy over the 'trending' section, Zuckerberg, Facebook's chief executive, said that Facebook is not a media, it is a technology company.

Technology analysts say the spread of fake news on Facebook has increased in the last two years. The company has also made some changes in the face of harsh criticism against Facebook for allegedly preventing the spread of fake news. The company has taken several steps including fact-checking, disclosure of publisher information, related news, stopping showing fake news in the news feed.

A few years ago, Alex Hardiman, head of news products at Facebook, hinted, ‘People want to know what's going on around here. We are committed to ensuring that the news that people see on Facebook is of high quality. We're investing in breaking news to keep people engaged. "

Source- https://www.prothomalo.com/