Facebook is rolling out a new feature called „Latest Conversations“ in its search results which will show the most recent public posts about timely topics..<\/b>
\nFacebook is rolling out a new feature called \u201cLatest Conversations\u201d in its search results which will show the most recent public posts about timely topics that a lot of people across its network are discussing. The unit gives you a wider view of what people are saying about a news story or other subject, by exposing you to sentiments being expressed outside your social circle.
The ability to see public posts is not necessarily a new thing for Facebook, but this \u201cLatest Conversations\u201d unit is different from what was available previously. Before, when performing a broad keyword-based search on Facebook, the main search results page would display a mix of news articles, photos, videos, public posts, pages, groups, and apps (if applicable) associated with the search term.
\u201cLatest Conversations, \u201d however, appears as its own section within the search results and includes a running \u2013 and live-updating! \u2013 counter showing how many people are talking about the topic right now.
This counter gives you an idea of how widely discussed the topic is on the Facebook network. It\u2019s common to see a subject that over a million users are actively posting about, for example.
The feature is not exactly an ideal means of understanding the news, or getting a sense of how most users feel about a topic. Often, the posts returned in \u201cLatest Conversations\u201d won\u2019 t only be in your native language, but will be from users around the world. (Offering a \u201ctranslate\u201d button here could go a long way.)
The addition comes at a time when Facebook is trying to pop users\u2019 \u201cfilter bubbles\u201d \u2013 meaning expose you to views outside of your self-selected network of friends, who often share the same values and mindset as you.
Facebook\u2019s algorithms have become smart enough to know which topics a user wants to see and will engage with, leading the company to optimize a user\u2019s News Feed for those types of posts. But this also means you\u2019 re no longer seeing what the opposing side may believe, and that has led to disastrous results.
The company was criticized about the echo chamber it creates following the U. S. Presidential elections, as it became apparent that users are only shown media and news that reinforced their existing views, rather than informed them.
\u201cLatest Conversations\u201d doesn\u2019 t go far enough to pierce through that filter bubble, though. The public posts it returns aren\u2019 t ranked in a way that could help you understand what the wider world thinks about a subject, as it\u2019s instead a simple reverse chronological stream of public posts on the matter.
If anything, the feature feels more like Facebook\u2019s attempt to step into Twitter\u2019s territory, by allowing users to see a feed of public commentary about a timely subject.
But unlike Twitter, once you\u2019 ve clicked through to see the full stream, it doesn\u2019 t update with new posts as they come in the way Facebook\u2019s News Feed does. News Feed will pop up a \u201cNew Posts\u201d alert that will scroll you back to the top to see the latest content. \u201cLatest Conversations, \u201d ironically, remains a static page.
To see new posts, you have to tap to go back to the main search results where the unit appears, then tap again on the \u201cSee All\u201d link to refresh the screen with the latest posts. That\u2019s odd, given that the post counter at the top of the page continually updates \u2013 the expectation is that the stream of posts would, too.
The unit doesn\u2019 t appear for all search queries, only those that are seeing a lot of activity at the time of the search.
While the feature feels more experimental, Facebook confirmed with TechCrunch that it\u2019s rolling out to users now. We\u2019 re currently seeing it in Facebook\u2019s mobile app, but not on the web.
(h\/t @fbjag on Twitter)<\/p>\n

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Sentiment rank: 0.7<\/div>\n

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