For journalists, social media plays an integral part in driving traffic and increasing reach. While Tiktok is fast becoming the main resource for news and updates for many of the younger generations, Facebook remains a key platform for generating audience engagement and traffic for news outlets.

So, when publisher analytics from Chartbeat and digital intelligence platform Similarweb, who track over 700 news and media sites, reported that referrals from Facebook were declining significantly there was understandably a  outrage and widespread concern amongst publishers in particular.

The analytics found that over the past six years there has been a staggering 58% plunge in referrals to news sites – dropping from 1.3 billion in March 2018 to just 561 million in April.

What does this mean?

This means that Facebook has reduced the visibility of news articles and links in users’ feeds leading to fewer clicks and engagements. Recently it has also been reported that Facebook was actively deleting or marking posts from news organisations as spam. As less people see the news shared and interact with it traffic and referrals from external websites will decline significantly with the potential to cause a considerable drop in revenue.

News sites of all sizes have been affected by the continued decline; including the UK’s biggest commercial news publisher Reach who have reported that falling referrals from Facebook had contributed to a decline of 15% year-on- year in its digital revenues in 2023 and page views have been down by a third in the first three months of 2024.

The sentiment has been mirrored more widely across the industry as earlier this year a survey, conducted by the Association of Online Publishers and Deloitte, of nine B2C publishers and four B2B publishers in the UK found that revenue had fallen by 47% in the final quarter of 2023. Researchers suggest Facebooks move to deprioritize news in its users’ feeds is a major cause of this.

How can news organisations adapt?

As Facebook referrals continue to drop and links continue to be deprioritised, news outlets and journalists can work to overcome the challenges posed by:

• Diversifying platforms – Facebook does surprisingly still remain the top platform for reader referrals despite the drop, however developing social strategy to include multiple platforms is the best way to ensure you are reaching the broadest audience possible. TikTok and X continue to grow in popularity, with TikTok overtaking Google as the most used search engine amongst Gen Z users
• Optimizing content for engagement – Creating highly engaging and shareable content that is SEO optimized and resonates with audiences can increase the likelihood of organic sharing despite algorithm changes.
• Post from people not businesses – Social platforms often prioritize content from personal profiles over business pages as it comes across as more authentic – individuals can also more naturally engage with communities on Facebook.
• Build more direct links to audiences – Invest time in using features such as newsletters, website subscriptions and mobile apps to build a direct relationship with your audience and reduce reliance on social platforms.
• Continue to monitor and adapt – It is important to continue to monitor change in social media algorithms and trends and adapt your distribution strategies accordingly to increase engagement and reach.

Key Takeaway

Facebook will continue to deprioritize news links across its platform causing a costly drop in engagement and revenue for news outlets of all sizes. While the platform still remains one of the top sources for news site referrals, journalists should ensure they are prepared to remove the majority of their reliance on the app for circulating news, engaging with readers and generating revenue.