Digital Week in Review: Facebook and Instagram at Olympics, Superbowl Commercials, and Trending Feature on Facebook Amsive Digital Published: January 17, 2014 2 min read Categories: News In this week’s Digital Week in Review: Facebook and Instagram join NBC for coverage of the 2014 Sochi Olympics, Superbowl commercials will be available to viewers before the game, and Facebook rolls out its new “Trending” feature. Facebook and Instagram at the Sochi Olympics 2014 NBC is teaming up with Facebook and Instagram for the Sochi Olympics 2014 in Russia. “Building off of our successful collaboration for the London Olympics, we have expanded our relationship to better serve Olympic fans’ insatiable appetite for Games’ content.” – Gary Zenkel, President of NBC Olympics NBC’s Olympic Facebook page will feature content on the life of American speed skater JR Celski, among other topics. American gold medalist, figure skater Sarah Hughes, will be answering questions online from fans during NBC’s prime time coverage of the figure skating competition. NBC will also be using its Facebook page for pools, photos, trivia and other sharable information. Facebook and NBC will also be working together to produce social media content and other social segments to air across other NBC Olympic platforms. Watch Superbowl Commercials Before the Superbowl YouTube will be letting users watch this year’s super bowl commercial before they even air on a page called Ad Blitz. Previously YouTube has offered teaser commercials before the big game but now has decided to post full advertisements. Currently there are 9 teasers that will soon be shown in full and Fox Sports playoffs analysis for teams in the playoffs. When exactly the full versions of the ads become available to viewers to see is still unsure. To read, more click here. Trending on Facebook Facebook users in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, India, and Australia will now be able to see what’s trending on in the top right corner of their news feeds. “Trending” will show a range of topics that have recently spiked in popularity. The Trending feature has been tested since late August but hadn’t been rolled out until yesterday. The Wall Street Journal had previously mentioned back in August that they had been testing the trending module but was still in the early stage of development. “News Feed is about conversations, but up until now, it hasn’t been possible to see what conversations are most interesting across all of Facebook.” –Facebook News Feed engineer Chris Struhar In a Q & A Forum Facebook has provided more information about this feature such as: Where will Trending be available? We will be rolling it out on desktop in the U.S., U.K., Canada, India, and Australia. What causes something to “trend” on Facebook? Trends are identified by an algorithm that highlights topics that have had a sharp increase in popularity, as opposed to overall volume for a given subject. For example, the term “lunch”: is talked about during lunchtime every day around the world, but it will not be displayed through our Trending feature. What kind of posts will I see in the Trending feed? The posts included in the feed are determined as the most relevant and engaging content related to the Trending topic. You will see posts from friends and public pages, such as news organizations, celebrities, and public figures. Posts from the people or pages you are connected with will rank higher in the feed. How quickly do the trends refresh? The trends are reflective of what is being talked about by people on Facebook, so they’re constantly updating. Can Trending topics be sponsored or promoted? Not at this time.