Facebook plays an important role in people’s lives since many users prefer getting their news from the platform, from a variety of publishers which appear in their news feeds. Despite the social network’s impact and the ability to regulate what content people see, Mark Zuckerberg has been reluctant to admit that Facebook is a media company, until now.
After Facebook and Zuckerberg faced backlash for its lack of action to prevent the spread of fake news, which may have helped elect Donald Trump, Zuckerberg downplayed the role of fake news in changing people mind or the course of the election. However, Facebook recently changed their tune regarding fake news, accepting their role in the problem and taking steps to address it.
Zuckerberg took a further step in accepting the reality of the role and impact of Facebook in today’s society during a live video stream on Wednesday. Together with Sheryl Sandberg, the COO of Facebook, he discussed 2016 in summary and what it meant for Facebook as well as what we can expect in 2017. More importantly, he stated that Facebook is not a traditional media company, as the social is more than a distributor of news, it plays an important role in the public discourse.
This statement implies that Mark Zuckerberg, the founder and CEO of Facebook, has finally come to terms about the impact Facebook has in society, which mostly acts as a media company, but until now wasn’t ready to assume the responsibility that comes with it. However, unlike traditional media companies, Facebook does not create the content themselves, and this is what sets it apart from other forms of media.
Facebook’s news feed is mainly responsible for the increasing aspect of a media company that Facebook has unwillingly adopted, since it acts like an editor, determining what content people see, from who and when. Furthermore, even the company’s leaders who determine the community standards, as well as content policies, act as editors, determining whether people should see or not various controversial content like nude historical photographs or reports of police shootings.
As such, Facebook is able to incorporate common elements from both a tech company which only publishes content on their platform, and a media company, by deciding who and what see the respective content.
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