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Facebook presents you with a variety of news based on Apps Archivespages you might have liked years ago. Now, it's considering asking what you care about today.

Facebook is testing a new way to follow "topics" in News Feed that would present users with information from outlets they might not consistently read. First spotted by TechCrunch, the feature appears as a suggestion with the News Feed of users.

Users can follow topics like "Horror Movies," which will use a variety of pages as sources on that topic. Once selected, the topic then shows stories from those sources in the News Feed.

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Following a topic has a twofold advantage over following Pages. First, it's easier to follow a single topic than 27 different sources as in the case of Horror Movies. Second, and perhaps more importantly for Facebook, following topics opens users up to sources from across the political spectrum, offering a wider range of perspectives. As TechCrunchpoints out, this may be confusing if a user sees an article from an outlet they didn't realized they followed via Topics.

The change opens up an intriguing possibility for Facebook. A topic follow would theoretically open up the possibility of Facebook doing more of its own curation of news sources, either through its own efforts or through the use of its audience data. Topics also add another strong way for users to signal the kinds of content they want to see more of on Facebook, which could help improve the algorithm and potentially advertiser content.

Adam Mosseri, Facebook's VP of Product for News Feed, spoke at the International Journalism Festival in Italy last month about the possibility of the feature. Mosseri talked about the three main themes for Facebook in 2017: Discovery, Integrity, and Partnerships, and mentioned following topics as a possible option for "Discovery."

“One idea, and this might not work, is what if you could also follow a topic?" Mosseri said. "Maybe the most compelling and interesting content about your favorite content about your favorite football club doesn’t only come from our football club’s page, but also from your friend’s pages … fan pages, sports companies and sports publishers. Maybe we can connect you to that in some interesting way.“

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Mosseri also mentioned a possible “discovery surface,” which could be another space for users to discover new content. The company has tested several ways to open users up to more sources of information over the last few months, including an "explore" feed and a separate tab with a rocket icon. Both of these tabs featured suggested content that was tailored to users' interests, but also have potential to be helpful in bursting Facebook's widely criticized "filter bubble."

As Facebook has evolved, the platform has become widely used as a news source. The "News Feed," once a stream of status updates and friending activity has now become an endless stream of news other links. The company has been publicly tackling its "fake news" problem, especially after the 2016 U.S. election.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg talked about this focus in his 6000 word manifesto earlier this year. He said Facebook's "approach will focus less on banning misinformation, and more on surfacing additional perspectives and information, including that fact checkers dispute an item's accuracy." Following topics could be an important step forward in surfacing additional perspective and helping users read beyond the stories they would ordinarily see.

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