SocialWayne.com by Wayne Sutton

Posts Tagged ‘topics’


Posted on November 18, 2009 - by

Is it time for Twitter to kill Trending Topics?

waynesutton - Twitter Search-5
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.

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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.

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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.

Your Thoughts or Take the Poll below?





Posted on September 15, 2009 - by

9 controversial topics to avoid on social networks for job security

If you look at one of the recent post on Mashable today about an employee who’s social media activity landed him in the um-employment line, sadly it’s not the first time something like this has happen. Employees are using social networks more and more but without conscious thoughts about how their online posting could effect their employment status.

While social media and social networks may be a way for self expression, a way to stay in contact with friends and family members, you have to remember while you’re on the clock, content you post during work time could be looked as views supported by your employer without any disclaimers. Also even when you’re off the clock, sometimes unless you state that your views are your own, it could be considered the same values supported by the company.

With that being said here are 9 topics to avoid on social networks:

  1. Politics
  2. Race
  3. Sex in general
  4. Gay Marriage
  5. Sexual preference
  6. Religion
  7. Porn
  8. Past Jobs
  9. General complaining on the Job

For best practices it’s best for a company to have a social media policy / guidelines in place for all employees.

Does your work have a social media policy? Do you feel that you should be free to discuss any topic online?