Twitter knows that its trending section is a confusing mess.
In an effort to fix this, the company that brought us trending gems like “Demon Sperm” asked “Why Is This Thing Trending?”
To accomplish this, Twitter is adopting a two-pronged approach. Starting today, for certain trends, the company will include a representative Tweet at the top of a trending page. In the near future, Twitter will also add a “short description” to some trending pages.
,[Some] Trends will have a representative tweet that will be pinned to give you more information about a trend right away,” wrote a Twitter product manager. Frank Oppong(opens in a new tab) and Twitter Product Trust Partners liz lee(opens in a new tab) in a press release announcing the change. “A combination of algorithms and our curation team determine whether a Tweet represents a trend by evaluating whether the Tweet is highly reflective of the trend and popular.”
Credits: Twitter
Credits: Twitter
When it comes to details the company will add to certain trends in the future, the press release states that it will “provide clear, unambiguous sources of why something is trending.”
Wouldn’t it be nice?
Interestingly, a strikingly similar idea was proposed by Chrissy Teigen a year earlier.
“It takes me too long to figure out why something is trending,” she wrote(opens in a new tab) In August of last year. “Twitter should be the first to tell you why something is trending at the top instead of 8 million people continuing to trend it asking why it’s trending I don’t know”
Tweet may have been deleted
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In its press release, Twitter says “why it’s trending” was tweeted over a half million times last year, so it appears Teigen was onto something.
See also: Twitter’s trending section is an extra hellish minefield during the pandemic
The change is rolling out to iOS and Android in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Egypt, France, India, Ireland, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, Spain, United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates starting today. and the United States.
