News content marketing through social networking site Facebook has become the fourth largest distributor of such content on the internet. This is due to the amount of time people spend on these sites. The most popular choices of website for people obtaining their news online are Google, Yahoo and MSN, according to research from Hitwise.
Facebook overtook Google News last year, rising from just over one per cent in January 2009, to 3.5 per cent last week. Facebook has driven traffic to news sites more over the past year, as people are spending more and more time on social networking sites.
The site has also been encouraging users to create personalised news channels onto their Facebook page. Spokeswoman for Facebook, Malorie Lucich said: “As news quickly travels, your friends are often the best filters you have for surfacing meaningful news. They are how I heard about Michael Jackson’s death, President Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize and even ‘Balloon Boy’.”
Facebook has become a significant news outlet, whether we hear things from our friends status updates, or have our own feed, the social network is the most visited site by most people in one day. The rise of Facebook as a news source has come as Google Reader’s growth has stalled.
Heather Hopkins, senior online analyst, Hitwise, said: “Facebook could be a major disruptor to the news and media category. And with the Wall Street Journal already publishing content to Facebook, perhaps the social network can avoid the run-ins that Google has suffered recently with Rupert Murdoch. We will continue to watch this space.”
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