Hot Tip: Adblock Facebook's Trending

[animalstyle]

Just realized yesterday that I could simply ad-block the god awful 'trending' section on Facebook by blocking it with Adblock. Life just got much better, hope this helps someone else.

 

[SteveGG]

I'm a bit of a news hound, so I actually like the Trending section on FB. On desktop, at least, it's not too intrusive.

No doubt having your website get listed prominently for one of those trends would drive a lot of traffic too. Something I'd like to have happen to my sites, and thought to see if there might be an algorithm that could be exploited but - as I coincidentally read earlier today - apparently they're manually chosen by "in-house journalists".

A Gizmodo article goes into detail about it, but a blogger summed up some of its main points with:

1) Facebook literally keeps their in-house journalists in a conference room in the basement.
2) That “Trending” box on your Facebook feed has its content determined by real live humans, not algorithms.
3) Most of the journalists working on the “Trending” box are in their late twenties or early thirties, and graduated from the Ivy League or schools like NYU.
4) These journalists all work at Facebook as independent contractors, and not Facebook employees.
5) The Trends section avoids linking to World Star Hip Hop, The Blaze, and Breitbart.​

Interesting to see behind the curtain.

"Want to Know What Facebook Really Thinks of Journalists? Here's What Happened When It Hired Some."

Gizmodo article:
http://gizmodo.com/want-to-know-what-facebook-really-thinks-of-journalists-1773916117

The blogger summary:
http://journalofajournalist.com/post/143806818138/want-to-know-what-facebook-really-thinks-of

 

[Ryuzaki]

Yeah, I read a statement too where they admitted to using it to try to sway people to a leftist viewpoint and refuse to link to anything politically to the right.

I was thinking "It's a shame that they have any agenda besides making money," but then I realized how much money they are taking, how little tax the company and zuck are paying, how much data they are feeding out, etc. It's not their own agenda.

 

[Potatoe]

Just realized yesterday that I could simply ad-block the god awful 'trending' section on Facebook by blocking it with Adblock. Life just got much better, hope this helps someone else.

That little box has helped me get so much traffic. Why do you want to hide it?

 

[animalstyle]

That little box has helped me get so much traffic. Why do you want to hide it?

I am just speaking from a personal account perspective. Shit pollutes my mind and often takes me on some strange trip where 15 minutes in I am watching lady gaga make spagetti or some shit. That's why I posted it in the water cooler.

To your point - absolutely, makes sense from an account linked to your business to keep your finger on the pulse...

 

[Ryuzaki]

Did Facebook's ex-employee airing them out about this not actually being trending topics but what they were wanting you to look at change your desire to even look at it? Knowing it was for political manipulation and a complete lie?