Facebook wants to help those who can't discern the difference between a real news article and satire content such as what's published at The Onion.
So it's actually adding a tag term, "satire," to respective news items following user requests for such content identification.
"We are running a small test which shows the text "[Satire]" in front of links to satirical articles in the related articles unit in News Feed. This is because we received feedback that people wanted a clearer way to distinguish satirical articles from others in these units," a Facebook representative said.
Still, there appears to be some confusion, as a reader will only learn that the story is satire (if they didn't figure it out while reading the piece) after they have clicked on the story and returned to their News Feed.
While there will be some outcry over the move, given there is always some outcry on changes Facebook makes, some users are likely to enjoy the tagging feature.
For lesser-known satire sites, such as The Daily Currant, it could be a smart move after The Washington Post in February ran with a story on a blog that claimed former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin was joining Al Jazeera as a commentator. The resulting story in the Post required the newspaper to issue a correction and explanation for its misinterpretation of the Currant's story.
The new feature could also be an effort on Facebook's part to increase its popularity among users. As Tech Times reports, the social network is the least-loved social network around.
The American Consumer Satisfaction Index put Facebook at the bottom of all major social media websites based on user reviews.
Pinterest, the popular image-sharing site, ranked top in customer satisfaction.
"[Pinterest] has made steady gains with pinners over the past three years, but improved features and search functions now push Pinterest to the top of the social media category for the first time," the ACSI said in a statement.
