Is it time for Twitter to kill Trending Topics?

Posted on November 18, 2009 - by Wayne Sutton

Since Twitter has “jumped the shark” from earlier this year, trending topics seem to have less value than ever. Random tends such as #blackthoughts and #whitethoughts which are trending one and two now are more about jokes, free will expression and spam, than sharing or posting valuable content. Also besides the spammers, some “Trending Topic seekers” are tweeting things that really should never be said online, ever. Recently Brian Solis of FutureWorks wrote, Do Twitter’s Trending Topics Signify What’s Important to You?. My answer in the comments was no. Also I stated that Twitter could use services like topsy.com, bit.ly or Tweetmeme to better filter trending topics based on links or tweets that I have tweeted based off of their api. Also with the new geo api Twitter could show me Trending Topics not only by what I have previously tweeted but by location and popular tweet content near by.

Personally at the current state of Trending Topics and with the growth of new Twitter users I think Twitter should stop displaying Trending Topics until they can make it more valuable. Also I’ve heard from many individuals say they don’t even look at or use Trending Topics anymore or care about Trending Topics for that matter.

Twitter though is acknowledging the Trending Topics problem on a recent blog post called: Get to the Point: Twitter Trends. Post excerpt:
As Twitter grows and the number of tweets each day continues to astound us, we’ve noticed an increasing amount of clutter in the public timeline, especially with trending topics. Trends began as a useful way to find out what’s going on but has grown less interesting due to the noisiness of the conversation.

So, today we’re starting to experiment with improvements to trends that will help you find more relevant tweets. Specifically, we’re working to show higher quality results for trend queries by returning tweets that are more useful.

Good luck with improving Trending Topics but unlike the list and retweet roll-out, I think Twitter should hide Trending Topics everywhere on the site until it’s fixed.

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Written by Wayne Sutton

Wayne is the business development/marketing strategist for TriOut and partner at OurHashtag. For more, follow SocialWayne.com on Twitter, Buzz, and Facebook. Also check out the SocialWayne Podcast in iTunes. See all posts by Wayne Sutton.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 18th, 2009 at 3:09 pm and is filed under Featured, Twitter. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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November 18, 2009

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The Gourmez said:

I also find little value in trending topics, especially since I rarely use twitter through their page, so I don’t really see the trends at all. But I don’t see any reason why they should be removed when people do use them and enjoy them, even if only for jokes. There’s no wrong or right rules about what should be trending.
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November 18, 2009

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Wayne Sutton said:

Gourmez I agree there are no right or wrong rules about what should be trending but trending topics are clearly being “abused” & spammed. Like I mentioned in the post even twitter says there is a problem with Trending Topics and if that’s the case fix it or kill it.

Thanks for the comments
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November 18, 2009

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Greg said:

Trending Topics was much more useful when it wasn’t part of Twitter, back when it was just summize. It’s especially unhelpful when search its self is so crippled that it’s hardly of use, I think that cap on items is 10 days, it used to go back months.

Plus it speaks volumes when the majority of tweets in trending topics is “why is (topic x) trending?”
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December 9, 2009

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ChaCha Fance said:

YES YES YES!!! They definitely should get rid of TT. They’re garbage now – pointless – a waste of time!!

Trackbacks/Pingbacks

Jeff Turner - 18. Nov, 2009
RT @waynesutton: New blog post: Is it time for Twitter to kill Trending Topics? http://socialwayne.com/p18l
Liz - 18. Nov, 2009
Interesting position: RT: @WayneSutton New blog post: Is it time for Twitter to kill Trending Topics? http://socialwayne.com/p18l
Tomislav Savov - 18. Nov, 2009
RT @waynesutton: New blog post: Is it time for Twitter to kill Trending Topics? http://socialwayne.com/p18l
Nukirk Digi.tal - 18. Nov, 2009
I'm NOT gonna lecture about #blackthoughts. I'll let @waynesutton do it for me. http://bit.ly/4lWJHS
Black Tweets - 18. Nov, 2009
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Jonathan Pitts-Wiley - 18. Nov, 2009
RT @BlackTwitterati A question whose time has come RT @WayneSutton Is it time 4 Twitter to kill Trending Topics? http://socialwayne.com/p18l
Corvida - 18. Nov, 2009
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April Davis - 18. Nov, 2009
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Peter Ulstrup Hansen - 18. Nov, 2009
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moses the 3rd - 18. Nov, 2009
RT @corvida: RT @waynesutton Is it time for Twitter to kill Trending Topics? http://bit.ly/3wWaAx [Fix it, or kill it]
Jenny G - 18. Nov, 2009
Is it time for Twitter to kill Trending Topics? | Social Wayne on the Social Web http://bit.ly/28ABru
Jill Harper - 18. Nov, 2009
Is it time for Twitter to kill Trending Topics? | Social Wayne on the Social Web http://bit.ly/28ABru RT @12C4
Britney Francis - 18. Nov, 2009
RT @mosaeus: RT @corvida: RT @waynesutton Is it time for Twitter to kill Trending Topics? http://bit.ly/3wWaAx [Fix it, or kill it] <~agreed
Brendan McManus - 18. Nov, 2009
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Chad - 18. Nov, 2009
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;] - 18. Nov, 2009
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Linda Evans - 18. Nov, 2009
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Michael Taboada - 18. Nov, 2009
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.LAG - 18. Nov, 2009
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Wayne Sutton helps individuals, startups and businesses succeed in understanding how to communicate on the social web via brand strategy, social networks and location-based services. Wayne is the business development/marketing strategist for TriOut and partner at OurHashtag.