Facebook has just rolled out the News Page Index – the newest tool that helps news publishers establish their credibility and authenticity on the social media platform.

In a webinar, conducted by Dara Levy, Partner Development Manager for News at Facebook, News Page Index was introduced as the latest tool that can help identify news Pages on Facebook. This tool grants extra perks and credibility available only to news publishers.

What are the Perks of using Facebook’s News Page Index?

Levy enumerated three main perks for news pages that are included in the News Page Index.

• Industry Knowledge – Allows Levy’s team to identify the full and diverse ecosystem of new Pages on Facebook in order to create products and policies with them in mind.
• Greater Trust & Credibility – Provides context about publisher’s ethics and best practices. It becomes better at informing people consuming news on Facebook.
• Access to Special News Products – Grants access to tools and permissions specially designed for news publishers.

Levy said that when news publishers register their Page to News Page Index, they help Facebook users make more informed decisions about which sources to trust.

Moreover, when a Page is registered to News Page Index, it will get greater additional perks and access such as:

• Ability to be featured in “Today In” local news tab. (Publisher must meet additional criteria, ongoing rollout.)
• Greater trust from readers with a context button that provides publishers content and ethics policies.
• Exemption from political ads labeling for the Facebook Ad Archive.

Who are Eligible to register their Pages on News Page Index

Aside from news publishers, Facebook pages run by businesses are also encouraged to register on the News Page Index.  Here are the factors they take a closer look when deciding which pages should be accepted on the News Page Index:

• Authentic and Accountable – Domain ownership must be confirmed and the Page should strictly follow the Facebook community standards. The page should not repeatedly share misinformation on Facebook.
• News Content – The page must primarily create journalism that reports on current events or timely information, must cite sources for published facts or information, and must include bylines and dates/timestamps on published content. It must also primarily publish content that is not user-generated or aggregated from other websites.
• Ads and Sponsored Content – A Page amount of advertising and promotional content should not exceed the amount of news content. It should make it easy for people to tell the difference between news and advertising content.

Page owners need the following to register their page to News Page Index:

• Admin access to your Page in Business Manager
• The ability to access your site’s domain host (if not already domain verified)
• Your news organization’s logos and editorial policies. (Optional)

A step by step process on how to register your Page to News Page Index can be watched here.

This is great news for news publishers who can now use the Facebook news features and offer credible news.

KISS PR Newswire Press Release Service