Facebook was dominated by the presidential election in 2016
Oh, and Chewbacca Mom.
As the year winds down, companies like Twitter, YouTube and others have made a habit of reminding us of all the stories that dominated the conversation over the last 12 months. Facebook does the same and today the social network revealed the most popular topics that hit your News Feed in 2016. As you might expect, the US presidential election took the top spot while Brexit was the hottest subject in the UK.
Other popular topics include Pokémon Go, Black Lives Matter, the Olympics, David Bowie, Muhammad Ali and soccer's Euro Cup. Notably absent from the list is perhaps the biggest story since the election was decided: fake news. Facebook has been dealing with the issue well before November, including false stories about the Pope endorsing Trump and a report about Fox News firing anchor Megyn Kelly surfacing as a trending topic. The Kelly story was promoted shortly after Facebook said it would no longer rely on editors to pen descriptions for popular stories on the site. The move to an algorithm-driven approach hasn't exhibited much improvement thus far but he company has recently said it will make improvements to user reporting methods and early detection to combat the issue.
For something a little more personal, Facebook has also created year-end videos for each user. The footage provides a look back at your highlights from 2016. The company says the compilation is editable and once you settle on a final version, you can share it with all of your friends. Those individual videos will be making the rounds to your News Feed during December, but you can take a look now via this link.
In addition to its own video highlights, Facebook also posted a list of the most popular user footage from 2016. It's no surprise that Chewbacca Mom took the top spot, followed by a smattering of election coverage and Dallas residents lining up to greet police following an attack earlier this year. To browse the full list of popular videos from 2016, consult the source link down below.
