Analysis New York Times, BuzzFeed and others to publish content directly on Facebook

Facebook has completed its transformation into a one-stop-shop web portal as several major US media organisations are preparing to publish content directly on the social media platform.

4-MIN READ4-MIN

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg during a speech last month. The social network is partnering with several major publishers to host their content directly on its platform. Photo: AFP

Published: 3:30pm, 24 Mar 2015Updated: 4:38pm, 24 Mar 2015

Facebook has completed its transformation into a one-stop-shop web portal as several major US media organisations are preparing to publish content directly on the social media platform.

According to the New York Times, Facebook is holding talks with publishers to host their content directly on the social media platform rather than sending users to external websites.

Facebook "intends to begin testing the new format in the next several months", with the Times, National Geographic and BuzzFeed as initial partners. Advertising will be served alongside the content, with publishers earning a cut of the revenue.

The new format will launch first the US, with global expansion in the near future. Facebook has targeted overseas users aggressively in recent years as US growth slows. According to a recent earnings report, Facebook has more than 450 million active users in the Asia Pacific region, a 51 per cent increase on 2012.

Facebook has long been expected to open its platform to publishers, with executives repeatedly emphasising the company's desire to make user experience more "seamless" by keeping users within the Facebook ecosystem itself, rather than sending them to external websites, particularly on mobile.

“Reading news on a smartphone is still a very bad experience most of the time,” the company's chief product officer Chris Cox told Re/Code in February.