The Science Behind Twitter’s Trending Topics

How Twitter Determines Trends

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Trending TopicsTwitter refers “trending topics” to all of its users whenever they use the network. These topics are said to be the most talked about/tweeted about topics on Twitter. They can range from names to hashtag (#) references

There are 10 trends on display at all times.

Users can click on these trends and join the conversation through replies or by building the trending term or hashtag (#) into their tweet. A trending topic is important because of all the viral potential it has to influence web traffic and conversation

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How are the Top Trends Determined?

The reports featured in this slideshow are supported by a recent study done by HP

HP conducted the study to dive deeper into the DNA of Twitter’s Trending Topics

HP analyzed 16.32 million tweets on 3,361 different trending topics for 1-2 months

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“Who”• A tweet from Justin Bieber and a

tweet from your little cousin carry around the same weight.

• “Who” posts the tweet does carry a lot of clout when trends are determined

• Of course “Who” can influence many others to retweet which IS beneficial to trend ratings

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“How Often”• How often something is tweeted does

not have a big impact on trend results

• The more that you tweet something, the better chance you have of another user seeing or retweeting your post, but this act can disqualify you in the minds of some followers that pick up on it. They can form the conclusion that you are trying to spam the system. frowned upon

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retweets• retweets are extremely valuable and

have a lot of clout when trends are determined

• The study found that 31% of trending topics are retweets

• “Who” retweets the message has little impact, but popular users can increase the popularity of a tweet, which indirectly, can influence the amount of retweets = A good thing.

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Who Carries the Most Influence?• Although the “Who” doesn’t matter much to

the Twitter algorithm – it does make a difference in regards to exposing a tweet to a larger population, which can influence retweets and conversation

• News+Media Outlets like ESPN, NYTimes ,The Huffington Post, and related sources were responsible for 72% of retweeted trends. Getting a tweet picked up by a major media outlet is a BIG DEAL for an average Twitter user

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How Long Trends Last• Very few trending topics

survive at a given position for more than 40 minutes

• The study revealed that most trend statistics were predictable. If a trend was at the number one spot, one could predict the amount of traffic the tweet received and will receive…and predict it’s lifespan and next trend ranking

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Twitter Trends Cultural Influence In the past, the general population relied on the media to determine “pop culture” – as proven in the study, major media outlets still have a big impact on trending topics. However, our culture has grown into one that places less trust in popularity (media) and more into everyday individuals. Why? The media has failed us in the past in providing factual information – so they lose that trust. Today, the people feed the media…not the other way around. As an average Twitter user, let it happen naturally. Speak when you have something valuable to say.

Our current cultural state craves personal attention on virtual platforms. Twitter trends allows average individuals to add a personal touch to “pop culture” – something we crave.

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Done! – CFICTUM

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