Facebook kills 'trending' news
Facebook announced Friday it will shut down the "trending" section of its newsfeed, which uses an algorithm to show users a selection of timely headlines.
Introduced in 2014 with human curation in its first version, the feature has become increasingly unpopular among users following accusations of anti-conservative bias and accidental promotion of fake news stories. Use has declined over time, particularly because the section was not easy to find on mobile. Tragically, "trending" reported its own death.
In place of "trending," Facebook is testing new features, including a "breaking news" label some 80 news outlets will be able to apply to some posts to highlight them for readers, perhaps with push notifications. Local news stories will receive more attention in a feature called "Today In," as will news videos hosted within the Facebook network.
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Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.
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