Facebook has long been positioning itself as a personalized newspaper for its users — it is even right there in the name “News Feed.” Now, the social networking giant might be taking that claim a bit more literally by getting into the real news publishing industry.

Facebook has reportedly been in discussions with the New York Times, National Geographic and BuzzFeed to begin hosting content on its own servers rather than the usual article links that the different sites share themselves.

The New York Times reported on the rumors about itself, saying that according to one source,” the Times and Facebook are moving closer to a firm deal.”

While on the surface this deal does not look like it would make sense for publications, as it would draw readers away from their own sites, Facebook has suggested an advertising revenue model that would make up for that loss.

Depending on the privacy concerns involved, there is also the possibility that Facebook could provide publishers with valuable data on their reader base that would otherwise be unavailable or expensive to obtain. This could include demographic information, such as age, gender, education level, marital status and so on.

What’s in it for Facebook?

Ad revenue and a limitless stream of reader data might be enticing to publishers, but why would Facebook want to host the content in the first place? Native content would not only be faster for users, but it would also keep them on Facebook.

News organizations and other publishers currently treat Facebook as little more than a link aggregator, posting updates on Facebook with only a headline and a link to the full story. Users who want to read the article click on the link, which on a desktop takes them away from Facebook. On a mobile device, tapping a link takes them out of the Facebook app entirely, and depending on the age of the phone, could take several frustrating seconds to complete.

By hosting the content on its own system, Facebook would not only improve the user experience for people reading the articles, but it would also keep them safely within Facebook’s borders and, therefore, within range of its advertisers.

photo credit: clasesdeperiodismo via photopin cc