Facebook Axes “Trending” Sidebar

Facebook is discontinuing the “trending” list. After the employees hired by Facebook to curate the trending news items were found to bury news they didn’t like, Facebook fired them all and tried to automate the process. If it matters to you whether their bias was liberal or conservative you can look it up, but my point is that a social media feed that adapts itself based on what you say you love and hate is not the right vehicle for informing yourself about the world. A truly informed citizen should not just follow sources that confirm their worldviews and ignore the sources that challenge it.