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Facebook Inc. is overhauling its “trending topics” box, part of its effort to curb fake news and expose users to a broader range of information.
Facebook on Wednesday said its software will surface only topics that have been covered by a significant number of credible publishers, a move designed to cut back on hoaxes by giving more weight to original stories.
Facebook is also giving users more context on trending topics by displaying a publisher's headline alongside a topic.
Before Wednesday, users could only see a short topic title and needed to hover over the topic to see a headline. The changes begin rolling out this week and will be available to all U.S. users in the coming weeks, Facebook said.
Facebook VP of product management Will Cathcart said in a blog post that the changes should improve the company's ability to highlight a broader range of news and events from around the world, ensure that trending topics "reflect real world events being covered by multiple news outlets" and refresh topics more quickly.
"This is designed to help make sure people don't miss important topics being discussed on Facebook that might not show up in their News Feed," Cathcart said.
Facebook on Wednesday said its software will surface only topics that have been covered by a significant number of credible publishers, a move designed to cut back on hoaxes by giving more weight to original stories.
Facebook is also giving users more context on trending topics by displaying a publisher's headline alongside a topic.
Before Wednesday, users could only see a short topic title and needed to hover over the topic to see a headline. The changes begin rolling out this week and will be available to all U.S. users in the coming weeks, Facebook said.
Facebook VP of product management Will Cathcart said in a blog post that the changes should improve the company's ability to highlight a broader range of news and events from around the world, ensure that trending topics "reflect real world events being covered by multiple news outlets" and refresh topics more quickly.
"This is designed to help make sure people don't miss important topics being discussed on Facebook that might not show up in their News Feed," Cathcart said.
