Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) users lashed out at the social networking giant over its new Trending Topics feature. Facebook unveiled the feature in many countries including the U.S., UK, Canada and India earlier this month. The Menlo Park-based company wanted to become a news source to more than 1.2 billion of its users, but the move seems to have backfired.
Facebook users want a hide/remove option
Trending Topics appear on the right side column of the News Feed. Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) generates these stories based on the most popular discussions taking place on its website at the moment. Facebook seems to have copied the feature from Twitter Inc. The only difference is that Facebook also shows why a particular topic is trending. Users said that the feature focuses mostly on celebrity gossip, and doesn’t offer relevant stories based on the users’ interests.
A thread titled “How do I get rid of trending topics” on Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB)’s discussion group has witnessed a lot of user activity. One of the users said that the feature should be called Trended not Trending, because it shows news that’s 12 or more hours old. Users are annoyed because Facebook doesn’t give them an option to hide it like the Chat button. Responding to the widespread criticism, the social networking giant said that the feature can’t be removed or turned off, and the company is open to feedback.
How to hide any unwanted feature on Facebook
However, there is a way to hide or remove the Trending Topics feature from your timeline. Use the FB Purity app to get rid of the annoying feature. The app also allows you to hide other features on Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) like autoplay videos. Moreover, FB Purity can help you clean up your timeline, customize your News Feed based on story type and keywords/phrases, and block game posts.
Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) stock inched up 0.50% to $54.72 in pre-market trading Monday.
