Yet another change with everyone’s favorite social media platform – Facebook is getting rid of the the “trending” section due to changes in how the user base uses the site. Facebook explains this in their post on the subject by saying “We’ve seen that the way people consume news on Facebook is changing to be primarily on mobile and increasingly through news video.” Which to me says point blank that people mostly use the service on their phones (no shit) and that they would rather click on a video and watch it than *gasp* have to read a news article!
That really somewhat betrays what the trending section has been – it always looked to me as an aggregate of whatever happened to be trending on Facebook, be it actual news or not. Much of what it suggested I wouldn’t consider news worthy in the least, and for those subjects that were worth looking into, it actually was good enough to give you a list of pages discussing the subject, which actually isn’t that bad. It’s just the subjects that appeared were a joke, often times being things I didn’t want to see or care about, and included content being pushed from pages I had specifically told Facebook I did not want to see. The section pretty much played by its own rules.
Because, you know, this is important news. /sarcasm
Seriously, the above image which I snipped for another Facebook article in January 2016 shows the caliber of some of the content being promoted as “news” on the trending section. Granted today you see less of this and more news about global politics and the like, the fact that stuff like this somehow gets to be something the trending section decides that everyone should have seen is sad, honestly.
to be fair, the trending section has gotten debatably better over the past few years. While there is still stupid celebrity stuff, if you compare 2 random shots I have of the section, one from January 2016 that went unused in that article linked above, and one I took an image of just today, you will see much less idiotic celebrity news (excluding Trump, of course) and more, well, actual news, so there is that, at least. You can see in the 2016 capture, though, examples of stuff that someone like me wouldn’t care one bit about, like news Kim Kardashian or Kendrick Lamar. Who the fuck cares? Obviously quite a few people, but not me. Still, it’s a little more lighthearted than the June 2018 capture from today which is just outright depressing on virtually all fronts.
You can also see the notification that trending is going away. Just though that was interesting to point out.
Facebook Trending in late January 2016 on the left, June 2nd 2018 on the right. It’s interesting to compare the two. Which one is really worse, when you think about it?
That being said, this section is honestly just depressing. I go out of my way to avoid most news, not because I don’t want to stay informed, but because I find it just so damned depressing it isn’t even funny. I just don’t want to see it because I already know every single thing I see is going to be something beyond idiotic. It isn’t worth my time or the stress it causes me to even read the headlines, let alone click on something and see some of the stupid comments coming from the peanut gallery that is Facebook (or most any social media on a whole.)
I prefer to get my news more by following what sources I wish to and only checking them when I so desire – not having it all shoved in my face, barring where friends share current events posts, which at least are more likely things I will want to see and probably be shared with more like-mindedness than what the trending section would aggregate for me.
So, what does Facebook plan to replace Trending with? According to their post on the subject:
- Breaking News Label: A test we’re running with 80 publishers across North America, South America, Europe, India and Australia lets publishers put a “breaking news” indicator on their posts in News Feed. We’re also testing breaking news notifications.
- Today In: We’re testing a dedicated section on Facebook called Today In that connects people to the latest breaking and important news from local publishers in their city, as well as updates from local officials and organizations.
- News Video in Watch: We will soon have a dedicated section on Facebook Watch in the US where people can view live coverage, daily news briefings and weekly deep dives that are exclusive to Watch.
It looks like more live video crap to steal our bandwidth and a “breaking news” indicator. Funny, I would think the fact that everyone on your friends list is probably talking about the given event and the fact that every single news agency puts “breaking news” in the title of videos / articles about such events would be enough of a clue that this is a current event that may be worth paying attention to.
I have a feeling Facebook will never have a clue. Here’s a hint – you’re a social media platform, not a fucking news site. I don’t need you to tell me what things are “news.”
That simple. If it’s worth me knowing about, I’ll find out about it. People will share the information. That’s how social media works… you’ve only made billions of dollars off the principle, I would think you, of all companies, would understand this.
Note: This article was accidentally published in an unfinished form on June 2nd, 2018. This is the completed article. I apologize for any double email’s that may have been received.