Facebook removing Trending news section

[Brink]

We’re removing Trending soon to make way for future news experiences on Facebook. We introduced Trending in 2014 as a way to help people discover news topics that were popular across the Facebook community. However, it was only available in five countries and accounted for less than 1.5% of clicks to news publishers on average. From research we found that over time people found the product to be less and less useful. We will remove Trending from Facebook next week and we will also remove products and third-party partner integrations that rely on the Trends API.

We’ve seen that the way people consume news on Facebook is changing to be primarily on mobile and increasingly through news video. So we’re exploring new ways to help people stay informed about timely, breaking news that matters to them, while making sure the news they see on Facebook is from trustworthy and quality sources. For example:

• 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.

People tell us they want to stay informed about what is happening around them. We are committed to ensuring the news that people see on Facebook is high quality, and we’re investing in ways to better draw attention to breaking news when it matters most.

By Alex Hardiman, Head of News Products

Source: Removing Trending From Facebook | Facebook Newsroom

 

[file3456]

Since when did Facebook become a source of "news?" If I want relavant news content, then I'll subscribe to those Facebook pages and see it in my feed. But then again Facebook in their infinite wisdom only shows you "top stories" or simply doesn't show you that content at all unless you activily engage with that page by liking and commenting on the content. Then there's Facebook's censoring BS to contend with.

So the bottom line is that if you want news, you should seek it from their respective sources and not through the filter of a complete asinine social media platform dubed Facebook. That goes for Twitter or any other social networking conglomerate. Not even Google search results can be trusted. You literately have to go to wallstreetjournal.com, BBC.com, usatoday.com, etc, etc. Remember Atom feeds? I always found those useful. Especially for blogs.

 

[Brds7t7]

I joined FB sometime in 2008, before my feed became populated with BS articles and garbage that wasn't relevant to me in any way, shape or form. It became 90% BS and around 10% useful posts, so I bailed out and deleted my profile around 4 years ago.

I have no idea what it's like on there now, but I can't imagine it's got any better the last few years.

I'm not sure why anybody would want to use Facebook as a reliable news source. But, then again, there's a lot of so called "reputable" news sources that have a tendency to churn out garbage too.

 

[Nitesco]

I don't trust Facebook with any sort of news. And this isn't just following the 2016 US Elections, or Facebook's recent privacy issues. Given the amount of actual fake news being passed around on there, I would never attempt to get my news on there. As mentioned by other posters, there are many other sources of news that have actual credibility to them.



I had a real identity on FB as a recommendation by someone I knew in college, but I barely ever touched it after that. So I deleted that profile, scrubbed any personal info from it, and never looked back.



My only use for Facebook is entering contests, and even then, that's on an alias. I wouldn't want to use that site for anything else otherwise.

 

[axe0]

Since when did Facebook become a source of "news?" If I want relavant news content, then I'll subscribe to those Facebook pages and see it in my feed. But then again Facebook in their infinite wisdom only shows you "top stories" or simply doesn't show you that content at all unless you activily engage with that page by liking and commenting on the content. Then there's Facebook's censoring BS to contend with.

So the bottom line is that if you want news, you should seek it from their respective sources and not through the filter of a complete asinine social media platform dubed Facebook. That goes for Twitter or any other social networking conglomerate. Not even Google search results can be trusted. You literately have to go to wallstreetjournal.com, BBC.com, usatoday.com, etc, etc. Remember Atom feeds? I always found those useful. Especially for blogs.

Facebook was originally designed to 'share', Facebook has just been another way to 'share news' (both fake and real news) for a long time.

 

[file3456]

I always thought Facebook was all about "connecting."

 

[axe0]

Connecting through sharing.