Facebook is testing a new tool that lets its users link their Facebook account with news subscription, allowing them to read paywalled articles and eliminating the process of signing-in repeatedly.
Facebook tested the feature with a small group of publishers and said that the results were promising, both for subscriber engagement and content distribution.
It found that subscribers in the test group who had linked their subscription accounts on Facebook had on average 111% more article clicks compared to subscribers who were not part of the test group.
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Consequently, publishers witnessed a jump in the number of their Facebook followers. In June, publishers' Facebook followers jumped from 34% to more than 97% among subscribers who had linked their accounts.
“The goal is to help publishers deepen their relationships with subscribers, and to provide a better news consumption experience,” Facebook said.
In addition, linked subscribers of eligible publishers in the US will see more news stories from their publisher in their Facebook News experience. This is Facebook’s latest step in an attempt to work with the news publishers.
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David Grant, program manager for the Facebook Journalism Project’s Accelerator Program said that through account linking, the company aims to help organisations increase their subscriber engagement and bring paying readers to their journalism.
The Athletic, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and Winnipeg Free Press tested the feature and said that account linking has provided easy access to their story-telling while spending time on the social media platform.
Facebook had launched its news tab in the US in June and plans to expand it to other countries within six months to a year.