Facebook will work with a dozen local media outlets to help ease the site's strain on digital subscriptions, the company said in a blog post.
Participating organizations will receive coaching from digital subscription experts, including Tim Griggs, a former New York Times executive, and take part in weekly training sessions to expand subscription bases on and off Facebook — all on Facebook's dime.
The social media site has been criticized for diverting traffic from traditional news publishers, despite insisting that it's not a media company.
The pilot program through the Facebook Journalism Project will seek to mitigate some of that effect.
The first group of media organizations to participate are: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Boston Globe, the Chicago Tribune, The Dallas Morning News, The Denver Post, The Miami Herald, The Minneapolis Star Tribune, The Omaha World-Herald, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Seattle Times, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Tennessean and Newsday.
Axios earlier reported some details about the pilot program.