Facebook recently introduced a new feature to the desktop version of their site that’s a lot like Twitter’s trending topics. Simply called “Trending”, it’s a new box added to the right sidebar designed to highlight popular conversions.
Chris Struhar, Engineering Manager at Facebook, describes:
Today we’re announcing Trending, a new product that’s designed to surface interesting and relevant conversations in order to help you discover the best content from all across Facebook.
At first glance the list of “popular conversations” looks a lot like Twitter’s trending topics, but there’s actually some noteable differences between the two.
How Facebook’s Trending Box is Different From Twitter’s Trending Topics
As with the majority of the content you see on Facebook, the topics featured under Trending are personalized. It not only shows you what’s being talked about across Facebook, it personalizes the list of topics based on things you’ve expressed an interest in.
When you click on one of these topics, the results are also personalized. You’ll first see the most popular posts about the topic by your friends and Pages you’ve liked, followed by popular posts across Facebook overall.
In addition to the Trending box showing you what’s being talked about it also tells you why it’s being talked about. How many times have you seen obscure topics trending on Twitter and had no idea why? Well that problem is solved with Facebook’s Trending box.
Trending will be introduced in select countries first while Facebook continues to test the feature on their mobile apps. Continuous improvements are to be expected over time.
