The Trending News section is set to get a dedicated link in the Facebook Mobile app, but the update hasn't yet been rolled out to everyone.
Representational Image: Reuters
Trending stories are normally visible when you tap on the search bar in your Facebook app on iOS. Tapping the bar throws up your recent searches followed by a list of trending topics. Tapping on a topic takes you to a page that highlights the activity around that topic. This could include coverage from news media, posts from friends, etc.
As part of a redesign in May, tapping on a trending topic is supposed to take you to a carousel that highlights related posts and stories.
Following the most recent update, TechCrunch reports that instead of seeing a trending topic, we’ll now see news stories on that topic.
The feature is only available to iPhone users in the US, even the May redesign, and Facebook expects to roll the new features out to desktop and Android users “soon”.
Since the section is now going to highlight news stories on a trending topic rather than just topics, it makes sense that the section will now be known as a ‘Trending News’ section.
The stories in the section are determined by Facebook’s algorithms and considers factors like engagement, whether others are linking to it, etc.
Featuring articles from news publications in this section also means that Facebook can better manage the spread of fake news on its platform.
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