Facebook Is Messing Around With Its Trending Section

Facebook is testing some changes to its Trending feature, which for some has become a staple of the Facebook experience since it launched on desktop early last year. In December, Facebook introduced s...
Facebook Is Messing Around With Its Trending Section
Written by Chris Crum
  • Facebook is testing some changes to its Trending feature, which for some has become a staple of the Facebook experience since it launched on desktop early last year.

    In December, Facebook introduced some big changes, adding new sections to split up the types of content that users can peruse for each trend. These include Articles, In the Story, Friends and Groups, Near the Scene, and Live Feed. It also launched the feature on mobile devices.

    With the new test, Facebook is trying out some additional categorization – this time by actual topic. AdWeek shows the trending box displaying a few trends, with the ability to “see more” followed by categories like Politics, Business, Science and Technology, Sports, and Entertainment. Clicking any of these topics will reportedly show you a few trends from that category.

    When Facebook first added its trending feature, it was largely looked at as the latest (at the time) attempt to add more Twittereque flavor to the social network. Facebook has historically been more about personal social networking, but in recent years it has become much better for public information. The Trending section has certainly helped in that regard, not to mention the trending stories it inserts into the News Feed.

    Twitter itself has been messing around with its trends as well, electing to add some context.

    “We know that trends aren’t always self-explanatory, so now you’ll see a description below each trend,” the company said earlier this week. “Since trends tend to be abbreviations without context, like #NYFW, a description will make it clear that this trend is about New York Fashion Week. The new trends experience may also include how many Tweets have been sent and whether a topic is trending up or down.”

    That’s in addition to Twitter killing the discover tab and experimenting with how it lets users surface public information with search.

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