Trending Articles Appear in Facebook Newsfeed, Now in Mobile

A few weeks ago users were surprised to see “trending articles” appear in their Facebook newsfeed on their desktops. The trending articles appear in a special section at the top a user’s newsfeed after entering the site. Users can click-through the section to see a selection of articles, typically 2 or 3 at a time. The articles are chosen based on articles the user’s friends have read. The section itself drops in the user’s newsfeed as additional posts make it into their feed, as though the articles were organic posts by their friends.

Thew new section just made it’s way into Facebook’s mobile app, displaying the same articles as the ones that show up in a user’s desktop newsfeed.

The move comes as Facebook announced changes to its mobile app which will place a heavier emphasis on images. It’s likely these changes are being made to enhance Facebook’s mobile offerings, which have been put to question by investors interested in Facebook’s coming IPO.

It’s interesting to note that I have seen more trending articles in my newsfeed than promoted page posts, signaling to me that the initial price tag of these new Facebook ad offerings are much too high for many brands to justify.

– Bryan Nagy