For some time, Facebook has been the primary distribution channel for most news outlets throughout the US. This has been true for the smallest local news outlets, straight through to macro content producers like CNN and Buzzfeed. Pew Research Center found that in 2017 alone, almost 68 percent of all Americans consumed their news via Facebook. This is no coincidence either since Facebook courted publishers and made available platform features that allowed for a vast and easy distribution of news including the now unfortunate “pivot to video”.
Yet after facing deep criticism for their inability to identify Russian trolling during the last election or stop the proliferation of fake news, Facebook has now made a conscious decision to show less news content on your feed, in favor of posts from your friends and family. Instead of just fixing the problem with their news distribution, Facebook is just killing the ability to consume news, which is now putting at risk the vast ecosystem of local, regional, and national publishers.
Needless to say, this puts in jeopardy independent news sources that are critical to generating the kinds of conversations needed to ensure accountability and transparency in our communities.
So what can you do to ensure that you have full access to RVA Mag’s daily online content? Follow these simple steps below:
Mobile
- First thing’s first. Make sure to like RVA Mag on Facebook here:
- Once you’ve done that, click on the “follow” button below the sign-up / send message button.
- Once there click, “see first”. If you want push notifications from RVA Mag, make sure “get notifications” is turned to on.
Laptop / Desktop
- First things first. Make sure to like RVA Mag on Facebook here:
- Once you’ve done that, right below the banner image, you will see the “like” and “following” buttons.
- Click on “following” and then click “see first”.
- Click on the icon labeled “Following,” and then click “See First.” If you want to get push notifications from RVA Mag, make sure to also click the “icon (Events, Suggested Live Videos)” feature.
If you have any questions about content delivery or how to better get RVA Mag news, please feel free to email us at hello@rvamag.com
