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Facebook relies on fresh content and engagement to keep users coming back for more. Trending, Facebook’s latest feature, hopes to do just that.
Found in the upper right-hand column of the news feed, Trending displays the hottest topics and hashtags across Facebook. Clicking on a topic shows you what other people, like your friends or company pages, are saying about it.
Using algorithms to surface interesting and relevant conversations, Trending helps you discover the best content from across Facebook. Designed to get you talking and keep you in the know, Trending is another step towards Facebook’s ultimate goal of becoming your top news source for current events.
So, what makes Facebook Trending different from Twitter Trends?
1. Personalization
Tailored to each user, Facebook Trending is like a personalized newspaper that displays topics based on what you’re interested in as well as what’s trending across Facebook in general. It also factors in variables such as timeliness, engagement from your Facebook friends, as well as engagement on Facebook overall.
2. Context
Instead of just a single word or phrase, Trending on Facebook provides a short headline for each topic.
While this makes the Facebook Trending box busier than Twitter Trends, it puts the context front and center. Does this mean Twitter Trends are out? No. Twitter Trends still has a few things going for it.
- Twitter has the obvious advantage of being more established as the go-to source for hot topics.
- Twitter users can modify location setting to see what’s trending specifically in that area.
- Twitter trends are available on mobile, whereas Facebook Trending isn’t… yet. Mobile Facebook users will only see a “trending” icon above hot topic posts.
Facebook aggregates the headlines of the day, while Twitter captures the pulse of the moment. Through personalization and context, Facebook takes the Trending feature to another level. And this is just the beginning in Facebook’s quest to become irreplaceably ingrained in your daily routine.
Which do you like better?
