Facebook doesn't show the news to our readers, so we stopped posting

Editorial

The Limpopo Mirror stopped posting news updates with links to the latest articles on its Facebook page last week. The publisher will continue to post news summaries and use the platform for certain announcements but will no longer use Facebook to share links to the latest news articles.

According to Anton van Zyl, editor of the Limpopo Mirror, posting links to articles became futile as Facebook simply did not show the posts to the newspaper’s followers. “Currently, the Limpopo Mirror has almost 62,000 followers, but Facebook, on average, shows posts to fewer than 3% of these,” he explained.

The decision to show a post to a Facebook user depends entirely on Facebook’s algorithms. Various factors influence this decision, and in theory, Facebook tries to determine what content the user would most likely want to see. “Unfortunately, this decision is heavily skewed in favour of the agenda of the owners of  Facebook, Meta," said Anton.

As a commercial business, Facebook needs to maximise its profit, and it is understandable that it prioritises paid-for content and advertising. To complicate matters, Meta, along with several other tech giants, is currently being investigated by the SA Competition Commission for monopolising the market and unfairly benefiting from third-party content.

“In countries such as Canada and Australia, Meta was told to pay compensation to content creators. The argument is that the company enriched itself from content it never created. In South Africa, it seems Meta has decided to filter out news content and simply not show it to users, perhaps to prove that it does not rely on such content to boost its profits,” said Anton.

The Limpopo Mirror has a 34-year history of providing relevant and trusted news to the local community. “We do not see the value in paying a company that has no roots in this community to distribute a bit of information to an audience that clearly stated they want this news. On top of that, the money paid to Meta leaves the country, and they pay virtually no taxes in South Africa,” Anton added.

In an effort to continue serving readers who prefer to consume articles online, the Limpopo Mirror launched a new newsletter last week. This seems like a shift from social media back to email, but at least it is something the publisher has more control over.

“The newsletter is a more personal way of communicating with our readers,” said Anton. “It gives us the opportunity to both speak and listen. Hopefully, we can weed out the bullies who are so prevalent on social media. If people are not interested in what we’re doing, nothing forces them to subscribe to the newsletter.”

The newsletter is also a step towards securing the longevity of small independent publishers. Currently, the content on the website is free, and newsletter subscribers even get early access to content. However, this may change to a casual subscription model, similar to what is used in many European countries and the United States.

So, please go to www.limpopomirror.co.za and hit the subscribe button. We promise not to spam you, and you will be treated like a special friend (with benefits).

Date:19 September 2024

By: Anton van Zyl

Anton van Zyl has been with the Zoutpansberger and Limpopo Mirror since 1990. He graduated from the Rand Afrikaans University (now University of Johannesburg) and obtained a BA Communications degree. He is a founder member of the Association of Independent Publishers.

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