A leading social media platform has now made its trending
topics feature available to all users in a particular region after testing it
out over the past month. The trending topics section displays the most
discussed topics on the site in a ranked list. It can be found in the search
section of the app. There is also a highlighted module within the main feed
that shows users what is trending now.
The design of the trending topics feature has been tweaked
slightly from what was tested previously. Most notably, the title of the
section has been changed. During the initial test, it was referred to as
"Today's Topics" which seemed to indicate it did not necessarily
reflect the most engaged with discussions.
However, it is now labeled "Trending Now" pointing
to it being a direct representation of what content is receiving the most
activity from users. The highlight module title was also adjusted from
"Today's Topics" to match the "Trending Now" naming.
This platform has grappled with trending topics in the past,
having previously removed human-driven curation from the section and scrapped
the concept altogether at one point due to issues around bias and amplification
of certain stories.
There is likely still hesitation around simply reflecting
engagement data without any controls. Political content recommendations have
also been reduced to limit exposure to divisive debates users report disliking.
With that change put in place, there may be more confidence
that trending accurately shows what is popular rather than stoking arguments.
However, some level of moderation will still be used to prevent promotion of
antagonistic, emotionally charged discussions.
After all, the goal is to make the experience more positive
compared to competitors known for hosting toxic debates. It remains to be seen
what topics are highlighted or avoided as trending options.
This new feature could succeed or fail based on how well
topics are screened. While engagement data drives rankings, actively
downplaying political issues and other angst-inducing subjects may be what
keeps trending from becoming a source of frustration for users.
Enabling discovery of real-time discussions people are
involved in is important too though. Balancing these factors will determine if
trending topics enhances the platform or has the opposite effect.
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to the latest discussions online.
