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Facebook has pledged to undergo audits by the media industry’s measurement watchdog, the Media Rating Council, people familiar with the matter say, a move that will likely please ad-industry executives who are skeptical of the tech giant’s data-reporting practices.

Facebook on Wednesday reported fourth-quarter earnings of $3.56 billion, up sharply from $1.56 billion in the same period a year earlier. On a per-share basis, the company said it had net income of $1.21, up from 54 cents per share. Earnings, adjusted for one-time gains and costs, were $1.41 per share in the latest quarter. The results beat Wall Street expectations.

Facebook is furiously promoting its live video feature as it tries to get more users to shoot and watch such videos. But will it be a big business for the social network? The prospects for advertisers are uncertain

Facebook is developing a video-focused app for devices like Apple TV with a view to hosting longer-form content. The move, reported by The Wall Street Journal‘s Deepa Seetharaman and Jack Marshall, squares with the company’s desire to reframe itself as video-first and to compete more directly with television for its ad dollars. Facebook is in discussion with media companies to produce some of that premium content now. WSJ subscribers can read more here.

Facebook is moving its video emphasis from live to long as it begins to reward video producers who make longer content, Peter Kafka reports. The platform is tweaking its algorithm to emphasize lengthier videos as long as viewers watch them completely. The endgame is to take eyeballs away from television.

Bristling over pushback on Facebook’s messed-up metrics and fraud, companies from Snapchat to Twitter are reaching out to assuage doubts. Here’s what five are doing.

The bankrupt tech incubator Quirky, known for selling smart-home devices, has sued Facebook for providing incorrect data about the length of time users spent watching video ads.

Facebook Live — In February 2016, Facebook began courting news organizations to upload native video, telling them that the newsfeed algorithm would favor it and the monetization opportunities would offset […]

Reports are that Facebook is eliminating its publisher subsidies to produce live video and emphasizing instead that publishers produce longer, more premium video content. Mathew Ingram says it poses a significant problem: “Just when publishers get used to producing one kind of content in order to gain the favor of Facebook’s news-feed algorithm — whether it’s video or articles, or both — the company tweaks its code and media companies see their traffic disappear almost overnight.”

After spending $50 million last year to sweeten the pot for some publishers to begin producing live video on the platform, Facebook appears to be putting its wallet away. Numerous publishers have said it’s now de-emphasizing live video in its conversations with them, and none expect the paid deals to continue. Instead, Facebook is pushing publishers to produce longer, premium video content instead.

The marketing industry’s Media Rating Council has held recent talks with Facebook about auditing its measurement methodologies, which have come under scrutiny following the company’s own admission that some of its numbers have been wrong.

At the same time that it’s taking steps to combat the spread of fake news and bogus content, Facebook has revealed that it is in talks with TV studios to create programming for the massive social network. The admission is surprising given that Facebook has repeatedly argued that it is not a media company. Except now it is.

If enough people now report news as fake, Facebook will pass the content on to third-party fact-checking organizations including ABC News, The Associated Press, FactCheck.org, Politifact and Snopes. Stories that fail the fact checking will be publicly flagged as “disputed” and be pushed down users’ news feeds.

Author Jonathan Taplin: “Google and Facebook can achieve huge net profit margins because they dominate the content made available on the web while making very little of it themselves. Instead, they both have built their advertising businesses as ‘free riders’ on content made by others …. The rise of these digital giants is directly connected to the fall of the creative industries of our country.”

The consensus of the panelists at a NewsTECH Forum session is that Facebook’s impact in the local media marketplaces today represents both a threat and an opportunity. They urged local broadcasters to get involved in Facebook because they can’t afford not to. But stations need to develop strategies that let them manage the amount and quality of content they post on Facebook, while also keeping in mind the integrity of their own platforms, which is, after all, the place where station content gets monetized.

Facebook’s first partner for live 360 video is cable network National Geographic, which will use the feature Tuesday for a broadcast as part of promoting its “Mars” space-travel series.

Broadcasters have become increasingly reliant on its referral traffic, and Facebook’s platform is gobbling up more and more of broadcasters’ resources and original content. A panel discussion on Dec. 12 at NewsTECHForum will also mine how they’re negotiating Facebook Live and monetizing on the platform, featuring input from Tegna, CBS Local Digital Media, News Press & Gazette and more. 

Austin Kellerman is the news director at KARK, Nexstar’s NBC affiliate in Little Rock, Ark., and considers himself to be the head of social media for the station. “If the news director plays a key role in what we do on social media each day,” said Kellerman, “it sends a clear message on its importance in our newsroom. Social media is the fastest-growing platform for our content, so it’s a key focus of our team.”

It’s an incremental step for the platform, but it’s delivering ads that will appear on OTT devices like Apple TV and Roku via its ad network and working with publishers A+E and Tubi TV. It’s only the beginning of a test, but its Audience Network will play a key role and it signals the persistence of its larger vision to capture a greater share of TV dollars.

Facebook exceeded analysts’ expectations with $7.01 billion in revenue for the third quarter, up 56%. The company earned  $2.38 billion in the quarter up from $896 million a year earlier. Video was a big driver of its success, as was continuing growth in mobile.

Three marketers who say they purchased video ads on Facebook have sued the social networking service for allegedly providing incorrect metrics about the length of time that users spent watching video ads.

Facebook used to be a way to share photos of friends or puppies. Now it’s a news publisher, a broadcaster and a marketplace. Facebook’s chief product officer, Chris Cox, and chief operating officer, Sheryl Sandberg, offer an inside view of the company and how it balances these roles,

Broadcasters are using their Facebook Live streams to drive viewers to tune in to TV rather than putting their most valuable content there. They’re still doing plenty of experimenting, but a lack of revenue opportunities keeps the platform as a lower priority. “I don’t think [social] will be a place to distribute our most premium content unless the economics change significantly,” a CBS Digital Sports exec says.

The Trump campaign on Monday night kicked off a live Facebook program that some are speculating is a test drive for Trump TV network. The campaign coverage will air every night at 6:30 p.m. ET, which, in one of those incredible coincidences, is the same time as most network nightly newscasts.

Facebook announced Thursday that News Feed videos can now be cast to Apple TV or Chromecast through any web browser or iOS device. Facebook is playing catch-up here, as competitors like YouTube and Periscope have long had their own streaming options.

Throughout the day today, TVN’s Market Share blogger Paul Greeley will continually post Facebook updates from TV stations in areas along the East Coast. You’ll be able to track the coverage of Hurricane Matthew as reported on Facebook as close to real time as possible.