Trending Topic

A trending topic is a word, phrase or topic that is posted (tweeted) multiple times on the social networking and microblogging service Twitter. Trending topics become popular either through a concerted effort by users or because of an event that prompts people to talk about one specific topic^[1]. These topics help Twitter and their users to understand what is happening in the world.^[2]


Controversy
There have been controversy surrounding the Twitter trending topics: Twitter censored hashtags that their users found offensive. Twitter censored the #Thatsafrican^[3] and the #thingsdarkiessay^[4] hashtags after users complained that they found the hashtags offensive.


Changes to Twitter's design
Twitter's 30 March 2010 blog post announced that the hottest Twitter trending topics will scroll across the Twitter homepage.^[5] Users will also be able to find out why a specific topic got to be a trending topic.