To gain more readers, many newspapers have turned to Facebook, a site frequented by young users, which is a low-readership demographic.

Some methods employed by news organizations are:
- Pages: News organizations on Facebook create a self-branded Facebook Page, which identifies loyal users, or fans. (The New York Times has more than 10,000 fans.) As fans of an organzation, users receive updates about what the organization is up to via a text story or links and can view videos, photos, text stories, and applications, usually posted by an editor or producer from the online staff. Pages direct fans to the organization's main website.

- Sharing/Bookmarking: Users can share stories and multimedia in the Pages, Groups, or on their own profile pages. They can also bookmark articles or multimedia to their own profile page so their friends can view it.

- Targeted Ads: A promotional tool within Pages, ads can be aimed at a specific demographic to better promote the organization within the Facebook community.

- Applications: There are thousands of applications on Facebook, but some news organizations have developed interesting ones to distinguish themselves. The New York Times has a News Quiz app, where users take a five-question quiz about stories from that day's paper and are ranked among his/her friends and the entire Facebook community. The Times also provides a link to help study for next day's quiz. ABC News has displayed results from Facebook's ElectionPulse polls, and a disclosure on their Page states that participants' names, pictures, and responses (on their Soundboard) may be displayed on TV.
 

Though Roanoke.com has not seen an increase in traffic because of Facebook, online editor John Jackson is "satisfied with the results from his organization's Facebook Page because it links the paper to an expanded network of users."

Other news organizations on Facebook include Poynter Facebook page, Chicago Tribune, The Economist, Los Angeles Times, The Onion, and NPR.

Source: Poynter Online