San Francisco, Dec 1 (IANS): Facebook has announced to bring its News platform to the UK, along with stepping up new investments focused on journalism.

With Facebook News, the social network will pay publishers for content that is not already on the platform, help publishers reach new audiences and bring more advertising and subscription opportunities.

The first group of publishers featured in Facebook News in the UK includes Archant, Conde Nast, The Economist, ESI Media, Guardian Media Group, Hearst, Iliffe, JPI Media, Midland News Association, Reach, STV and others.

"The UK launch in January will build on the success Facebook News has seen in the US, where we've found more than 95 per cent of the traffic Facebook News delivers to publishers is new audiences that have not interacted with those news outlets in the past," Jesper Doub, Director, News Partnerships, said in a blog post late on Monday.

The first group of publishers are home to hundreds of the UK's best known and most loved national and local news brands, including The Economist, The Guardian, The Independent, The London Evening Standard, Liverpool Echo, Manchester Evening News, The Mirror, The Scotsman, STV and the Yorkshire Post, among others.

Facebook News offers a mix of curated and personalised top stories to deliver informative, reliable and relevant news.

Readers see the top headlines and stories of the day alongside news personalised to their interests.

Facebook said it is in active negotiations to bring Facebook News to France and Germany as well.

The social network said that in the past two years, Facebook has trained 80 journalists across the UK covering communities.