Comments on: Do Twitter’s Trending Topics Signify What’s Important to You?

By: Nadu_53

Nadu_53 — Fri, 26 Nov 2010 12:44:00 +0000

Your example of Trending Topics at the time you wrote this post is a great reminder that the Twitterverse is, in some ways, just as unfortunately reflective of broader society as TV viewership, radio listenership, etc. etc. That is, we have our healthy share of idiots

By: Nadu_53

Nadu_53 — Fri, 26 Nov 2010 12:43:00 +0000

very bad

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By: Recent social media reading | Social Media Stories

Recent social media reading | Social Media Stories — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 06:10:59 +0000

[...] Do Twitter’s Trending Topics Signify What’s Important To You? from Brian Solis. No. I am very interested, however, in trending topics from my community – the people I follow and the people that follow me. [...]

By: John Mark Troyer

John Mark Troyer — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 13:33:49 +0000

I'm not interested at all in Trending Topics – my crowd talks mostly about work on Twitter. I *am* very interested in Trending Topics for my followers & the people I follow. Our niche will never be big enough to show up on the general list, though, so it's useless to e.

By: John Mark Troyer

John Mark Troyer — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 05:33:49 +0000

By: Tamara Gruber

Tamara Gruber — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 18:38:54 +0000

While I can see the value of some selective filtering, what I'd really like to see would be trending topics within the people that I follow. This screens out much of what isn't important to me and tells me what the people I actually care about listening to are talking about. Perhaps a toggle or option between different types of trending topic categorizations (All Twitter, All Following, By List…) would be a future direction.

By: Dan Hutson

Dan Hutson — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 15:37:09 +0000

By: Rich Becker

Rich Becker — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 13:30:59 +0000

Very smart stuff. As information drifts toward popularity in a mainstream setting, there seems to be an increased need to provide some editorial oversight. Twitter seems to be experimenting with this at the right time, as its usage among organizations has seem a 775 percent increase in bandwidth usage.

Best,
Rich

By: mathewballard

mathewballard — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 11:39:40 +0000

Sometimes the trending topics go in line what I care about and sometimes they don't. Not things like the #shutthefuckup trend I generally have no interest in. But when it comes to a TV or something sports related trending I do care.

By: Jeremy Fischer

Jeremy Fischer — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 11:18:39 +0000

To be honest, I've never seen a whole lot of usefulness in the Trending Topics. I always glance at them briefly, but most of the time nothing catches my eye. As one who is actively attempting to land my first gig in PR, I look at them from a professional level as well, and still can't figure much use for them. It's interesting to know what people are talking, thinking about certainly. But the "topics" (used loosely because of the noted spam and intentional campaigns that are influencing the list) change so rapidly that from a PR standpoint, there isn't much you can point to of any real significance.

As soon as you go "ooh, people are talking about X. That's interesting." X changes to Y and is gone. T

The last real significant trending topic was the Iran situation.

By: Ed Shahzade

Ed Shahzade — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 10:47:30 +0000

Trending topics on Twitter were immediately set upon by real spammers (as they will with anything),
but also with hashtag spam by many ignorant and lewd individuals.
I was yet stunned by the number of people who have no reticence to publicly
post filth with their name on it.

The problem has become exponentially worse (literally),
since the mass arrival of MySpace users in recent weeks and months.

By: justsail

justsail — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 01:08:09 +0000

Twitter is a medium that allows for discussion…of all types. If a Trending Topic arises people are obviously feeling the need to join the conversation. While most “trending topics” are pollution, some prove to be timely and topical. Twitter also holds the ability to serve as a news medium for some users. I do think for Twitter's credibility it is in their best interest to filter things like Trending Topics to rid the spam or nonsense.

By: CatherineVentura

CatherineVentura — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 22:15:48 +0000

We may well be seeing more apps that help us discover what topics are trending among our specific networks. I've been taking a a look at TwitterTim.es, for instance, which creates a "newspaper" of the stories being most retweeted by your particular followers (http://www.twittertim.es/).

By: Wayne Sutton

Wayne Sutton — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 22:12:17 +0000

Brian, I think that's a good idea, using something like topsy.com, bit.ly or Tweetmeme to better filter trending topics based on what what links I have shared on twitter before using api calls. I really think it's time for twitter to kill the trending topics or change it all together.

By: Peter

Peter — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 21:40:16 +0000

No doubt. There are many directions this thread can take. Twitter is a very diverse platform but for me a very valuable business tool. For many, it is a toy. I would certainly like to see a filtered or targeted trending feature that is more relevant to me.

By: briansolis

briansolis — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 21:35:57 +0000

Ari, I had to update the post to make sure that the case for personal filtering was communicated…

“While Lists help to some extent, we can only benefit from a layer of intelligent filtering integrated into our stream to further personalize and improve the experience – not unlike what FeedHub and AideRSS attempted to do for RSS feeds.”

By: briansolis

briansolis — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 21:22:54 +0000

Peter, I've grabbed trending topics at various points of time and day over the lifespan of trending topics. As a whole, many argue that trends do not reflect that of their personal interests. The case can be made for filtering to deliver a more meaningful and personal experience.