Facebook test puts satire tag next to link titles

There's always that one Facebook friend – You know who we're talking about. A link to an Onion article gets posted, and that friend goes off about it, ranting about the satire they're oblivious to, giving everyone else a private snicker before someone finally points out the nature of the website. Facebook is working on a new tag that could bring these entertaining episodes to an end.

The folks at Ars Technica spotted a [satire] tag in the related articles list beneath clicked status links. The tag is at the front of the title, and reveals when a link is for a satire website.

When asked, Facebook revealed that it is currently performing a "small test" that puts a "satire" warning in brackets in front of links from The Onion and other related websites. This is only in the related articles box in the News Feed, it seems.

According to the social network, this is the company looking at potentially giving the people what they want, with user feedback revealing that some would consider [satire] tags a welcomed addition to the site. What websites trigger the warning aren't known, but The Onion is counted among them.

SOURCE: Ars Technica