WSJ’s Facebook Story Fails To Disclose Paper’s Deal With Site

Facebook is facing “access tension” according to Thursday’s Wall Street Journal:

Technology start-ups are stepping up their bets on Facebook Inc., as more developers create companies that rely on the social network’s 750 million members, rather than build a user base of their own . . .

The rise of such companies is likely to be apparent at f8, as Facebook is set to make a slew of announcements about integrating media more deeply into its network. The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this month that Facebook is preparing changes designed to make the site a hub for listening to music, watching movies and playing videogames.

That might have been a good place for the Journal to have noted that the paper itself has developed a Facebook app – WSJ Social – that, according to Forbes.com, “filters Journal content through the so-called social graph to yield a news product that lives entirely within the walls of Facebook.”

And there’s money involved, the Forbes piece notes:

As far as the money part goes, the Journal keeps all the revenue from ads that appear within the borders of the app, while Facebook sells ad positions outside it.

Bottom line: the Journal should have disclosed its financial interest in the story it was reporting.

Not to get technical about it.

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2 Responses to WSJ’s Facebook Story Fails To Disclose Paper’s Deal With Site

  1. Steve Stein's avatar Steve Stein says:

    I’m not sure I agree here, so *let’s* get technical about it.

    Does having this app hosted on Facebook constitute a “deal” with Facebook? I mean, I read CampaignOutsider on my Mac in Safari, and you host it on WordPress, but you really don’t have a deal with Apple or WordPress. You have a deal with your hosting company.

    I assume (but I don’t know) that FB just gives WSJ a container to run their app, like Farmville or any other FB app. WSJ posts ads in their container, and FB posts ads outside their container. There might be money involved, but there’s no financial consideration or “deal” between FB and WSJ.

    I could easily be wrong about this, which is why I had to get technical.

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