FAQ about Trends on Twitter

Where to find Trends:

On the Home, Discover, and Search pages on the web. Trends appear in the column on the left side of the page.
Official mobile apps and mobile.twitter.com display Trends. To learn more about Trends on mobile click here.

Frequently Asked Questions:

How are Trends determined?

Trends are determined by an algorithm and are tailored for you based on who you follow and your location. This algorithm identifies topics that are immediately popular, rather than topics that have been popular for a while or on a daily basis, to help you discover the hottest emerging topics of discussion on Twitter that matter most to you.

You can choose to see Trends that are not tailored for you by selecting a specific Trends location on Twitter.com.

What does the # sign mean?

You may notice that some Trends have pound - # - sign before the word or phrase. This is called a hashtag and is included specifically in Tweets to mark them as relating to a topic, so that people can follow the conversation in search. Click here for more information about hashtags.

Will I see world and local events in my Trends?

Absolutely. The Trends default setting will weigh the Trends that match the topics you're interested in. There will be many world and local news events that will appear in your Trends regardless of your personalization.

Can I see trends for a specific location?

Yes! To view Trends for a specific location, click Customize in your Trends box. Select the desired location. Choose Worldwide if you want global Trends, or select a country and/or a city. If you don't see your preferred country or city, it means we're not receiving enough Tweets from that geographical area to create a list. You can look up local Tweets on any topic by using advanced Twitter Search operators.

What happens when I click on a Trend?

Clicking any of the Trends in the sidebar takes you to the Twitter search results for that Trend. You'll see all Tweets including that phrase or hashtag. To see what people are saying about a previous Trend, perform a search for that keyword.

How can I participate in a Trend?

Just post a Tweet including the exact word or phrase as it appears in the Trends list (with the hashtag, if you see one). Due to the large number of users tweeting about these specific Trends, you may not always be able to find your particular Tweet in search, but your followers will always see your Tweets.

Note: Twitter also filters searches for quality. To understand what types of behavior could cause your Tweets to be filtered out, click here.

Are there rules for what can become a Trend?

It is possible to abuse Trends. 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 or trending higher
Tweeting about each Trend in order to drive traffic to your profile, especially when mixed with advertising
Listing Trends in combination with a request to be followed
Tweeting about a Trend and posting a misleading link to something unrelated

Having trouble?

Check out our article about hashtag troubleshooting for more information.