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January 18, 2014 — Published by: Drew Benvie

Facebook launches trending topics

Facebook trending topics

Quietly on a Friday night Facebook launched its newest feature this week. Trending topics is Facebook's take on the popular Twitter feature that allows users to tap into content they might not otherwise be seeing from their connections. This follows Facebook's launch of hashtags last year.

We've been having a little play with this new feature already. Trending topics appear on the top right of the desktop version of Facebook and are currently being rolled out to the userbase, so not everyone has them just yet.

Two big things to look out for with trending topics:

  1. This is a more personal and social view of the news, which social networks want you to turn to instead of leaving to check the news
  2. trending topics on Twitter can be sold as ad space, so this is a potential brand engagement opportunity in the future

To read more about this news, TechCrunch has a good overview.

October 1, 2013 — Published by: Drew Benvie

Twitter changes trending topics and why your tweets are now more important

Twitter has begun rolling out a new way of displaying to users its 'Trending Topics' - the top 10 topics being discussed right now on Twitter.

Originally there was only one version of Trending Topics, the same view for all users. Then in 2010 Twitter launched local trending topics. For the last three years users have been able to choose where their trending topics relate to - for example global, UK, London and so on.

Today we noticed a new change to Twitter's Trending Topics. As you will see from the image below, trends are now automatically set as local to you based on your current location, and also in context to accounts you are following. This means everyone will see a different version of what's trending on Twitter.

Twitter trends

We think this is a pretty big move, as when you trend on Twitter, whether you are involved in a news story, a product or an event, there is now no longer a single mass audience. It means that, now more than ever, your brand on Twitter must work hard to engage more and more of the community and not just get a ton of retweets once in a blue moon, such as from a giveaway.

It also means that tweeters with the most followers have more of an impact on what trends. This is huge for big brands, celebrities and influencers.

The other implication is that promoted trends, one of Twitter's paid for advertising packages, will be able to reach whoever you pay to target. So this is also a big move towards maximising opportunities for Twitter's paying brand name customers.