Facebook launches new service called signal; a tool for social gathering news for journalists

Facebook unveiled Thursday a new tool designed to help journalists use the track breakdown of the social network and the tendency of news, in a challenge to Twitter.

The service called signal, which is available for both Facebook and Instagram platform, owned by Facebook, is designed for journalists are using social networks as part of their reporting efforts.

"We listened to journalists who want an easy way to do this in a more vital part of their newsgathering with the ability of emerging trends relevant, photos, videos and messages on Facebook and Instagram for use in his narration and presentation reports "Facebook Andy Mitchell wrote in a blog.

"Today we are excited to introduce the sign for Facebook and Instagram, a discovery and curation free tool for journalists who want to source, meet, and embed the journalistic content of Facebook and Instagram, through news, culture, entertainment, sports and more all in one place. "

With the signal, journalists "can monitor what topics are trending and then quickly display the related content that has been shared publicly."

Journalists can also access lists of public figures classified by being mentioned on Facebook, including "real-time conversation" involving politicians, authors, actors, musicians, athletes and others.

The tool can also be used on Instagram for visual content, according to Mitchell.

"Every message from Facebook, Instagram picture or video each and every metric that is in the signal can be easily saved into custom collections for later use," he wrote.

"This is a first step to help journalists use Facebook and Instagram more effectively and will collect information and iterate to the useful signal as possible for industry professionals."