Twitter's Trending Topics algorithm identifies topics that are immediately popular, rather than topics that have been popular for a while or on a daily basis, to help people discover the "most breaking" news stories from across the world. We think that trending topics which capture the hottest emerging trends and topics of discussion on Twitter are the most interesting.

About Twitter's Trending Topics

• To see a quick snapshot of the most tweeted-about topics on Twitter, look to the sidebar on the right of your homepage. You can also see trends in many of our mobile clients and on the mobile web.
• From news stories to the latest buzz about movies, music and more, the trending topics reflect what new or newsworthy topics are occupying most people's attention on Twitter at any one time.

Note: You may notice that some topics come with a number sign "#" before the word or phrase. This is called a hashtag and was put there specifically to mark it as a topic so that people can follow the conversation in search. Check out this page for more information about hashtags.

Localize

Twitter can either show you topics that are trending worldwide or those that are trending in one of more than 100 cities and countries. To change views:

1. Click change next to your location name in the sidebar. A pop-up menu will appear, displaying a list of countries.
2. Click on the country of your choice. If that country has specific cities as an option, you’ll be able to choose a specific city.
   - Clicking a location will automatically update your home sidebar and display topics from your chosen locale.
   - The green checkmark signals your chosen location. Click on the X to close the location window.
3. You can switch locations at any point by clicking on change to bring up the full list of options again.

Please note:

• If you don't see your country or city, it means we're not receiving enough Tweets from that geographical area to create a quality list. Locations are not manually selected, but rather displayed dynamically based on tweet volume.
• When you click a topic listed under your local area, you will be shown the overall search results for that trending topic, not the local search results for that topic - to get an overview of the local Tweets on a local trending topic, use advanced Twitter Search operators.

Observe

• Clicking any of these topics in the sidebar (or on the homepage) sends you to the Twitter search results for that topic, so you can see what exactly people are tweeting about it.
• In this case, clicking on the trending topic Sprint yielded results of the most recent Tweets on Sprint, and, on the right hand side, results for relevant accounts.

 

Note: The list of trends changes frequently based on what is most popular right this minute, but that doesn't mean the conversations end. To see what people are saying about a previously trending topic, perform a search for the topic. For example, two weeks after Miley Cyrus quit Twitter, you could still search for the formerly trending "#comebackMiley" and find lonesome fans tweeting to encourage her return. You can always save a search to keep it easily accesible.

Participate

• If a topic grabs your attention, just post your Tweet on the subject using the exact word or phrase as it appears in the trending topics (with the hashtag, if you see one).
• Please understand that due to the large number of users tweeting about these specific topics, you may not always be able to find your particular Tweet in search -- and that is ok! Your followers will always see your Tweets.

 

 

Note: Twitter also filters search for quality. To understand what types of behavior could cause you to be filtered, check here.

Stay Trendy

Besides observing and participating trends, it is also possible to abuse them, but of course, this is against the Twitter Rules. The following behaviors and others like them could cause your account to be filtered from search or even suspended:

• Adding one or more topic/hashtag to an unrelated Tweet in an attempt to gain attention in search.
• Repeatedly Tweeting the same topic/hashtag without adding value to the conversation in an attempt to get the topic trending/trending higher.
• Tweeting about each trending topic in turn in order to drive traffic to your profile, especially when mixed with advertising.
• Listing the trending topics in combination with a request to be followed.
• Tweeting about a trending topic and posting a misleading link to something unrelated.

The most important thing is to make sure your Tweets are genuine thoughts or impressions and not attempts to insert yourself into a trend. Everyone who clicks on the trending topics should be able to see real people's ideas and links to further relevant information.

Having Trouble?

Check out our article about hashtag troubleshooting for more information.