Facebook NewsBreaking News Indicator
Developed a universally understood breaking news label system for Facebook, balancing the needs of users and publishers while introducing a scalable indicator framework.
PROBLEMTo improve the perception of Facebook as a place for people to get the latest news, Facebook needed a way for publishers to indicate content that was timely and important.
I needed to develop a clear, universally understood label for this type of content that would be compatible with existing labels on Facebook — challenging because most labels on Facebook are permanent, and this label would be ephemeral. This label also needed to be effectively translated and work for several use cases, including notifications and in Feed.
AUDIT
Conduct competitive audit for terms used by other news platforms
Identify potential use cases for the new term
Develop list of potential terms
PROCESSTEST
Work with UXR to test small set of potential terms with target users
Work with PD to ensure selected term will fit in identified areas
Work with localization team to ensure selected term will work in target locales
WRITE
Finalize indicator name
Develop notification pattern
Document CMS rules
Review final copy with Legal and Policy partners
Write string descriptions, send for translation
Document new term in Acrolinx
Introduced the concept of an "indicator" for ephemeral labels, which allowed me to introduce guidelines that didn't conflict with existing system of labels on the platform and then scale the indicators concept to other news products, such as algorithmically selected "for you" content.
Finalized "breaking news" as the indicator name for an article the publisher wanted to mark as timely and important; "breaking" could be used when space was constrained.
Developed a structure for notifications that included both the publisher name and the article title, taking into account the possibility of truncation. I also documented how the system should indicate article recency.
Designed a system to prevent publishers from overusing the indicator and diminishing its value by creating guidelines that specified the types of content eligible for the indicator and restricting its use to 1x/day in the CMS, with 3 additional "bonus" indicators available each month.
SOLUTION
RESULTSPositive news coverage
Breaking news indicator
After piloting the breaking news indicator with a small set of publishers, we were able to launch the product more widely and saw wide adoption by publishers and consistent usage from our target audience. The launch received positive media coverage, with outlets noting Facebook's strategic move into real-time news delivery.