Trending on Facebook: 4 Web Apps to Stay Updated

Understanding Viral Content on Facebook

The term ‘viral’ is commonly employed to describe content experiencing widespread popularity and a significant trending status on the Facebook platform.

This phenomenon can manifest in various forms, ranging from engaging games such as FarmVille to profile picture trends, like the silhouette images of figures like Steve Jobs.

Once a user initiates a share or ‘Like’ action, the content is largely propelled by the network itself through button-links.

Types of Facebook Shares

It’s important to recognize that Facebook supports different methods of content distribution. We will focus on Public Shares, which initiate conversations and appear on user profiles.

These shares are facilitated by the interconnected network of friends, amplifying their reach.

Facebook’s Open Graph protocol has been instrumental in expanding the scope of trending discussions and events within the social network.

Discovering Trending Content

Given the vast number of pages on Facebook, identifying noteworthy shared content can be challenging.

Fortunately, several web applications are available to assist users in discovering what is currently trending on the platform.

These tools curate and present popular content, simplifying the process of staying informed about current discussions and viral sensations.

BuzzFeed

BuzzFeed is a platform dedicated to identifying and monitoring the internet's current popular trends. The site actively observes what captures online attention in real-time, as highlighted by its "Hot List."

A significant portion of BuzzFeed’s content originates from Facebook, which serves as the second-largest source of viral material after Twitter. Users can easily share content back to their Facebook profiles with a simple "Like."

Viral Content Tracking

While BuzzFeed aggregates viral content from numerous sources, a substantial amount of this content is experiencing widespread sharing on Facebook at any given moment. The platform’s monitoring capabilities ensure a constant pulse on emerging online phenomena.

Engagement is encouraged through community participation, allowing users to contribute to and amplify the trending topics.

Content Categorization and Social Integration

BuzzFeed streamlines content discovery with direct feed pages categorized by popular themes such as "LOL," "OMG," and "Fail."

Users have the option to connect their Facebook accounts, enabling them to view recommendations from their Facebook network. This integration enhances the social experience and personalized content discovery.

The platform facilitates a dynamic interplay between content consumption and social sharing.

Utopic

Utopic is a platform designed to curate and deliver compelling content sourced from popular social media sites, including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Google Reader.

It facilitates content sharing amongst users, allowing individuals to easily distribute their discoveries across these various services.

Key Features

Utopic functions as a visual bookmarking service, enhanced by convenient browser extensions.

These extensions allow for the rapid saving of any webpage to Utopic with a single click.

Saved links are automatically tagged and categorized, streamlining the process of discovering what connections are sharing and enjoying.

This information is accessible both within the Utopic platform and on external websites.

Integration and Tracking

Utopic can be configured to monitor all links a user shares or likes on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Google Reader.

This comprehensive tracking provides a centralized view of online activity.

Like Button: A Real-Time View of Facebook Trends

Like Button functions as an aggregator of the most frequently liked webpages as shared through the Facebook Like button. It distinguishes itself as a uniquely Facebook-centric application, offering insights into current activity on the social media platform.

How Like Button Works

The website boasts a clean and organized layout, presenting links that are updated live. This allows users to observe trending content as it gains popularity in real-time.

Navigating the site is straightforward, with categories conveniently located on the left-hand side. These categories facilitate focused browsing of popular content.

Utilizing Like Button

As the site itself suggests, Like Button can be effectively utilized as a personalized homepage. This enables users to quickly ascertain what is currently trending on Facebook upon starting their day.

Essentially, it provides a curated snapshot of the social network’s most engaging content, determined by user interaction via the Like button.

Zocial TV

Determining the real-time accuracy of trending videos on this platform proved difficult. Videos are organized based on their accumulated popularity over a daily, weekly, and monthly timeframe. The consistent presence of Justin Bieber suggests a relatively current selection, however.

Zocial TV is designed to help users identify the most widely viewed videos on both Facebook and Twitter. The site encompasses standard content categories, as well as specialized areas focusing on educational resources, non-profit organizations, and animal-related content.

Staying Current with Trends

Understanding current trends is increasingly important in contemporary pop culture. Nancy’s article, “3 New Ways To Discover Most Popular Online Content,” offers additional methods for staying informed.

Do you actively seek out trending topics on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube? Alternatively, do you prefer to encounter them passively through your social media feeds?

Discovering Trending Content

Are you familiar with any other online resources that facilitate the discovery of trending content on Facebook? We welcome your suggestions and insights.

Consider exploring different avenues to stay informed about what’s capturing attention online.