Facebook's Trending Topics now offer you a choice of what publisher you want to read
Obviously, you're a Mashable reader.
But you probably also enjoy the occasional New York Times article. Maybe you're in more of a The Atlantic mood. Just occasionally, you're in the market for a Vox post.
You'll have the option now, in Facebook's Trending Topics.
The embattled and oft-changed feature received another update on Wednesday, introducing a "carousel" of stories related to news of the day.
When users click on a topic, they'll be presented with stories from numerous publications, which they can swipe through.
"By making it easier to see what other news outlets are saying about each topic, we hope that people will feel more informed about the news in their region," product manager Ali Ahmadi and product designer John Angelo wrote in a Facebook blog post.
Facebook is picking the stories by popularity, including article engagement, publisher engagement, and if other articles link back.
Facebook stressed there is no list of publishers for the feature.
In addition to the carousel, Facebook said it is experimenting with putting Trending into the News Feed — a first for the feature, which until now had been relatively hidden on mobile.
"We’re soon beginning a test in News Feed that will show people the top three Trending stories, which they can click on to see the full list of Trending topics and explore what people are discussing on Facebook," the blog reads.
Facebook cautioned it's a limited test (so you might not get it) to determine how people use Trending.
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Jason Abbruzzese is a Business Reporter at Mashable. He covers the media and telecom industries with a particular focus on how the Internet is changing these markets and impacting consumers. Prior to working at Mashable, Jason served as Markets Reporter and Web Producer at the Financial Times. Jason holds a B.S. in Journalism from Boston University and an M.A. in International Affairs from Australian National University.
