Twitter will now tell you why a topic is trending; the update is now live on iOS and Android

Twitter trends essentially show the hot topics around the world that are keeping internet users occupied. However, often unexplained names and activities start to trend like wildfire and people joining in later have no idea why. Like Twitter states, the question “why is this trending?” was tweeted more than half a million times in the last year. Now the micro-blogging site is attempting to explain trends better. According to a blog by the company, pinned tweets and short descriptions will be rolled out to help users understand why something is trending almost immediately. [caption id=“attachment_8778141” align=“alignnone” width=“1280”]  Image: twitter[/caption] Hence, from now on, certain trends will have a “representative tweet” pinned to them along with a description box that explains the trend. The update went live for Twitter on iOS and Android from 1 September and the firm said that it will be rolled out in the web version soon.

As per the blog post, a combination of algorithms and Twitter’s curation team determine if a Tweet represents a trend by evaluating if it is very reflective of the trend and popular. Explaining how a representative tweet will be chosen, Frank Oppong, Twitter product manager, and Liz Lee, the Product Trust Partner, said that tweets that are not “potentially abusive, spam, or posted by accounts trying to take advantage of our system” and that explain the trend well will be chosen. This update is currently available in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Egypt, France, India, Ireland, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, Spain, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, and the United States. According to the team, the development will bring more clarity to the conversation, and add more context to trends over the course of time.