As one of the biggest social media platforms in the world, Facebook has established itself as a trusted news source globally. With 2.9 billion monthly users, it’s no surprise that a majority of the world’s populace flocks to the site for their information.
As of 2022, it’s estimated that roughly a third of Americans get their daily news from Facebook. But what about other major countries?
Last year, we took a look at the biggest news sites from Germany, Spain, and Italy. To expand off of those findings, we’re back to see how the data, trends, and insights may have changed over the course of the past year.
Germany’s top websites on Facebook
Compared to last year, only one of Germany’s top three sites retained its spot in the rankings. Bild, a tabloid focused news publisher, has continued its reign as Germany’s number one website with 17.7M engagements. Following Bild was Focus, a general German news source, with 9.6M, and RTL, which is a subdivision of the German television channel of the same name, with 8M. Each German site in the top ten focuses primarily on global and national breaking news.
It’s worth noting that Bild’s interactions are almost double that of the next closest website. This is a testament to its popularity amongst Germans and is supported by the fact that it has stayed in the top spot since 2015.
Spain’s top websites on Facebook
A common theme we’ve seen in Spain over the years is an attachment to websites centered around sports. That has continued in 2023, as Mundo Deportivo (18.6M) and Marca (17.8M) top the rankings. Dedicated to all Spanish sports, but specifically soccer, these websites are consistently popular on Facebook because of their commitment to recapping games and keeping tabs on soccer’s brightest stars.
Also performing well were daily newspaper El Pais (16.4M), Catalonia’s leading news source La Vanguardia (15.8M), and Galician created La Voz de Galicia (13.8M).
Italy’s top websites on Facebook
A new face has entered the top spot in Italy’s website rankings. Fanpage (33.2M), an online newspaper based in Naples, narrowly beat out La Repubblica (31.5M), who has come in first for the last six years. Corriere, one of Italy’s oldest news sources, rounded out the top three with 18.5M interactions. All three of these sites focus on global and national news, from politics to entertainment to opinion pieces.
Mediaset (16.6M) and La Stampa (7.4M) continued their momentum from 2022 and are still solid options in the Italian news sphere, while new sites like Ansa, one of the top ranking news agencies in the world, made their debut (7.7M).
Germany’s top articles on Facebook
Germany’s most engaged article strayed from the theme of “important” news that we saw when it came to popular Facebook pages. Instead, cooking site Lecker Schmecker saw 392k interactions on their “unexpectedly delicious” fried egg in a baked potato recipe.
And it seems that Spain isn’t the only country focused on soccer, as another theme on the German rankings chart were articles pertaining to Bundesliga powerhouse, F.C Bayern Munich. Articles that focused on Sadio Mane’s squad absence (79.5k), Matthijs de Ligt’s Player of the Month award (54.1k), and a match against Chelsea’s legends (53.2k) took the fourth, seventh, and eighth spots respectively. It’s clear that no matter the country, sports driven media tends to fare well on Facebook.
Spain’s top articles on Facebook
In Spain, La Vanguardia dominated the charts, securing five of the top ten spots. Their top stories ranged from the discovery of a pink dolphin (176k) to soccer star Messi’s venture to a Miami grocery store (141.2k).
Italy’s top Facebook articles
Italy’s top three articles focused on limiting social media for children (154.4k), Italian mobster Messina Denaro (116.8k), and an inspirational graduation (110.5k). Other ranking stories included a petition to reinstate a teacher who was suspended for having her students recite the Hail Mary (101.7k) and a determined donkey (97.8k).
We also see Fanpage, the number one Facebook page in Italy, fare well in the article sphere, totaling 200.3k engagements on the charts.
One year later, it’s clear that Facebook has continued to be a daily news source for Germans, Spaniards, and Italians. From match results to heartwarming stories, there are options to choose from on the website, and it doesn’t look like it’ll slow down anytime soon.
To learn more about how you can monitor the top websites and articles on Facebook in a specific location, reach out to request a demo here.
