Why no one knows which stories are the most popular on Facebook
Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales What news should people see when they come to Facebook?
In the old days, your answer might have been whatever they want to see," or even who cares?" But as Facebook's dominance grew, and it became one of the most important arbiters of attention in the world, the question grew more pressing. If a country where the median voter leans to the political left has a News Feed occupied by links from the far right, that could cause concern. If right-wing and even openly fascist politicians began to take over countries around the world, that kind of disconnect between an electorate and one of their primary news sources might come under even stricter scrutiny.
A nice thing about Facebook is that the company makes a tool that lets you see what...