Facebook is trying out a 'Satire' tag because people are getting confused

People keep getting fooled by parody sites like the Onion and Waterford Whispers News.

We will admit to occasionally getting taken in by a Waterford Whispers News headline. But only for a minute. Some of them are just too close to the truth even if they are usually completely ridiculous. But that's part of the reason why they're so funny.

Men to Ignore Women Again Now That The Premiership Is Back http://t.co/o8VQPTCUrW #news #epl #football pic.twitter.com/4PYMwHnxyS

— WWNews (@WhispersNewsLTD) August 14, 2014

But it seems to be a common enough occurence especially with the growing popularity of websides like the Onion and ClickHole. So much so that Facebook is testing out a [Satire] tag to help its users distinguish real headlines from the slightly less real.

Copperface Jacks To Open Australian Branch Following Irish Nurse Recruitment Drive http://t.co/oOWpQGHijK #news #ireland #Australia

— WWNews (@WhispersNewsLTD) August 12, 2014

A spokesman for Facebook told Ars Technica that the test has been going on for the last month.

"We are running a small test which shows the text '[Satire]' in front of links to satirical articles in the related articles unit in News Feed," read the statement.

"This is because we received feedback that people wanted a clearer way to distinguish satirical articles from others in these units."

While there is confusion over what will be tagged and what won't be - it seems to appear on related articles only - judging from these examples of people who seem to believe everything they read, there might actually be a need for it.

Some people...