Facebook’s Trendy New Feature Is A Twitter Knockoff — But Better!

When you log on to scan your morning Facebook newsfeed, you may notice that its new feature appears vaguely familiar. No, we’re not talking about a case of déjà vu, rather, the social media site’s latest update seems to come straight from Twitter’s Trending Topics feature.

Starting today, on the far right side of your FB homepage, you’ll see a list of the hottest talking points circulating around the web, along with a short blurb explaining why the subject matter is so newsworthy.

Even though this addition to the site is pretty much a complete knockoff from Twitter, Facebook’s approach is much more user-friendly. When looking for popular topics on Twitter, you’ll have to sift through various tweets to get the gist, while Facebook users know right away that, say, Betty White is making headlines because she’s blowing out candles for her 92nd birthday. Plus, what pops up on your trending section is based on your interests, so look out for more Betty updates if you liked The Golden Girls page. And, you'll stay on top of your water-cooler chatter, because the section will also display the trends your friends are talking about.

This isn’t the first time Mark Zuckerberg and co. have borrowed from Twitter in order to gain global viral domination in the Internet world (remember when Instagram rolled out its Vine-ish video feature?). We'll be keeping score to see which techie powerhouse comes out on top. (Tech Crunch)