Facebook kills its "trending" feature, pledges to find fresh new ways of being bad at showing you news

By William Hughes | June 1, 2018 | 10:35pm

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Facebook continues to grapple with its role as a primary news source for people whose other primary news sources are things like “Stuff my uncle forwarded me” and “What details of the outside world I can half-derive from memes,” with Deadline reporting that the social media network has now shuttered its often-controversial “trending” feature. The feature—which is a lot like Twitter’s trending topics, except somehow worse by dint of Mark Zuckerberg’s irresistible aura of suck—came under fire several years back, when it was accused of favoring liberal stories over conservative ones. Then, after the company handed the process off to computers, it was accused of favoring total bullshit, instead, helping to contribute to the company’s general reputation for shitting in the public pool of the 2016 election. Now it’s dead, but rest assured, fans of inelegant solutions of all shapes and sizes: Facebook isn’t giving up.

“We found that over time people found the product to be less and less useful,” the company’s head of news products admitted in a blog post announcing the cuts today. Instead, the company says it’s trying to make a push to providing people with more local news, via a planned “Today In” feature that prioritizes local sources, as well as a “Breaking News” label that definitely no one will overuse and abuse within moments of its debut. It’s also increasing its push toward video news coverage via its Watch label, allowing you to get your unverifiable mix of facts and opinions in an easier, less text-heavy form.