From a blog post by Facebook, they warned about the current state of local news and how Facebook is going to do what it can to keep it popular and widespread. However, as things are currently, it may not be so easy. According to Facebook, a third of Americans live in what they described as a “local news desert”, meaning that most of the areas Americans live in barely have any sort of local news to offer.

Facebook decided to make a program for its social media site, called “Today In.” Today In compiles all of the local news in the US and presents news based on the location of the user to raise more attention in local news. Due to the aformentioned drought in local news, Today In struggles to give out enough local news, especially in areas that are in gray. Those are in green have enough local news that Today In can present.

Despite the move’s purpose of bringing local news back into popularity and importance, others argue that this move is another ploy for Facebook to claim its media dominance. Critics argue that the move was to mainly benefit Facebook and not the media outlets the site is aggregating them from.

Facebook’s media dominance is something that will not go away anytime soon. With how strong of a hold it has on news, the existence of local news can either be saved or destroyed.

 

Image courtesy of fastcompany.com