Facebook is giving mobile users one less reason to log onto its desktop version, as the ever-expanding mobile version now features a Trending section.
Almost a year after the Trending section arrived on the desktop version of Facebook, the feature has found on a home on smartphones and tablets.
The mobile app's Trending section has been partitioned into sections labeled "Articles," "In the Story," Friends and Groups," "Near the Scene" and "Live Feed."
Articles groups together several stories on the same trending topic, while In the Story calls out individuals in or related to the story.
The Friends and Groups sections calls out comments from individuals inside a user's social network; Live Feed displays reactions from people outside the individual's network; and Near the Scene pulls out relevant posts from individuals who are near the action.
"When people visit a trend or event they want an overview of what's going on, but [also] the reactionary feel," says Andrew Song, product manager of Trending Topics at Facebook. "Live Feed was really the right expression of that. [It shows] how people were reacting and how people are sharing without compromising the ability to get an overview."
The social network's product managers have indicated that the way trending topics are selected won't change and news sections will also remain the same.
"The way that your Trending topics are determined hasn't changed, and as always, only public posts and posts that you are in the audience for [like updates from friends or groups that you belong to] will be shown in Trending," states a Facebook product manager in a blog post.
The Trending section is rolling out on Android in the U.S. Facebook says the feature will hit iOS and other countries "soon."
The release of the Trending section follows up Facebook's network-wide expansion of its graph search. The more robust search enables Facebook users to use keywords to find posts, where it was previously only able to find people and places.
While some users may be put off by Facebook's deeper, more effective search, Rousseau Kazi, Search product manager, says the social networking site is giving people what they want.
"People want mobile," says Kazi. "We know this is a company priority, a search priority. People want a stronger, better, faster mobile search."
