Facebook Traffic to News Sites Plummets by 50% in the Past 12 Months

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Excerpt from tribune.com.pk

Facebook’s referral traffic for major news publishers down by 50%

Chartbeat and Similarweb reveal significant decline in referral traffic from prominent media outlets worldwide

Major internet analytics firms claimed that the data showed Facebook’s referral traffic for major news publishers was down by 50% in 12 months, according to a report published in Press Gazette.

According to the report, Google’s first core algorithm update of 2024 did not favour the vast majority of publishers, as hundreds of news media groups experienced a gradual decline in referral traffic, even up to 50%.

News publisher analytics firm Chartbeat and digital intelligence platform Similarweb tracked some 792 news and media websites. Chartbeat reported that referrals from social media platforms, particularly Facebook, have witnessed a steep decline. Over the past six years, there’s been a staggering 58% plunge in referrals to news sites, dropping from a whopping 1.3 billion in March 2018 to just 561 million last month.