A seriously annoying element of Facebook once you realise it is the ‘Top Stories’ versus ‘Most Recent.’ If it doesn’t already make you feel Facebook is not your ‘friend’ then play around with it.
By default you see Top Stories in Facebook. Nobody outside of a few people at Facebook know how this works but mostly it’s accepted that it’s either friends most commented and liked or some other weird algorithm which suits the big blue F.
Click ‘Most Recent’ and you will see your feed of friends and likes in a timely order. Blink and Facebook will have reset your preferences to ‘Top Stories.’ Edit preferences takes you to blocking people and apps you see so really not relevant.
The ‘Fake News’ epidemic exploits this. Write some fake news, post it and then game Facebook by having others link, share and like the post. Tadah.
But what was amazing to see just yesterday was how the Facebook algorithm for ‘Tending,’ which appears in your right navigation worked. Trending presents itself as what most people are talking about, the ‘talking trends’ so you can see what’s going on now that your feed is controlled by fake news and tweaked algorithmic content.
Millions and millions of people marched across globe for Women’s Marches yesterday. It was across every news service, news paper, media property, it was the true definition of a ‘trend’ online. Sunday morning, the Women’s March features everywhere.
It was, after all, more popular than Trump’s inauguration. But how’s it doing on Facebook ‘Trending?’ Well not so well. In fact, according to Facebook it isn’t trending at all and more people are talking about Duff Goldman and National Hugging Day.
Whitehouse.gov was trending as they replaced core Obama platforms like LGBT and Climate Change with ‘American Products and American Jobs’ and George Bush made it because it was ‘funny’ he struggled to get his poncho over his suit. I searched ‘Chris Evans’ and only he quitting Top Gear last year appeared.
Supergirl will appear in a crossover episode of the Flash, airing in March. Well at least Ronnie O’Sullivan made the final of the Snooker Masters. Let’s keep an eye on this we think?
The post Facebook’s ‘Trending’ algorithm is bizarre! appeared first on Felix Magazine.
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