So, it happened. Facebook has blocked news sites from publishing content to their Facebook pages.
This impacts both Australian news sites and international news content. So if you follow a news site on Facebook, very soon you won’t see posts from them anymore.
Now, the rise of digital media hasn’t meant the end of traditional news outlets. You can still tune in to the news programs on your television, buy a newspaper or listen to the radio. But for digital news outlets, social media has long been an easy way to share content with readers.
For some people who read their news via Facebook, this change could cause a big chance for your daily feed. But fear not; there are other ways you can still get content from your favourite sites. Here are some ideas to get you started.
Social media
Facebook isn’t the only social media site with news content. Twitter has always been another great way to get Australian news and updates directly from news sites, celebrities, personalities and other organisations. You can create curated lists or follow hashtags for the topics and sites you’re interested in and you’ll still get a lot of the same content.
Instagram, while being more focused on images, is yet to be affected by the news ban despite being owned by Facebook. Plenty of news sites will post updates via Instagram which you can then access via a link in bio feature, so you don’t have to go too far from your regular feed to get your dose of news.
If you prefer to get your news from videos, YouTube is a viable option for news sites that also post video content. Plenty of news sites have also jumped on the TikTok train if you seek them out.
Reddit is also a great aggregator of content from news sites which you can find by joining groups with topics of similar interests to the news you’re interested in.
News aggregators
Using a news aggregator is one of the easiest ways to stay on top of the latest news without doing any of the work. You can personalise the sites, topics or stories you’re interested in and the algorithm will do the rest.
Apple News and Google News are two of the most popular options. Apple News offers a subscription service to access certain stories behind the company paywalls but both aggregators offer both desktop and app-based options. Another popular choice is Feedly.
Alternatively, you can create your own RSS feed and manually add the sites you’re interested in to create a personalised news feed. This ensures you’ll never miss a post from your favourite site.
Websites and apps
It goes without saying, but one way you can stay on top of Australian digital news is to visit the website itself. Whether you compile a list of links or bookmarks for the sites you enjoy reading or manually keep tabs on them throughout the day, this is still a viable way of keeping up with articles.
Certain news sites may also have their own apps on which they publish their content. ABC News App is an example of this on the Google Play and Apple App stores. Search the app store to see if your favourite site has a partner app handy as well and you’ll be able to set up notifications to ensure you never miss a post.
Lastly, most sites also have some form of a daily or weekly newsletter that you can sign up for through the website. This way you can get the best news articles delivered right to your email inbox without digging through websites each day.
Podcasts
More often than not, your favourite news site will also have a podcast component that goes further in depth on the news of the day/week. Check your preferred podcasting platform for the news site or topic you’re interested in and there’s sure to be a podcast that will give you your news fix.
How to find Lifehacker content
We here at Lifehacker Australia love bringing you articles each and every day. Sadly, if you’re used to seeing our content on Facebook, you probably won’t see it for much longer. We’d love for you to continue reading our articles and we have some solutions if you’re looking for ways to keep up with our content.
You can keep up with Lifehacker articles on our Twitter page and via our RSS feed. You can also sign up for our daily newsletter via the little ‘Subscribe’ icon at the top of our page, or find us right here at Lifehacker Australia!
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