How Facebook’s Trending Topics Is Like Minority Report

How Facebook's Trending Topics Is Like Minority Report

How Facebook’s Trending Topics Is Like Minority Report

In Minority Report, Tom Cruise walks through a mall while an ad calls to him: “John Anderton! You could use a Guiness right now!” Consider all the tracking devices that make your life easier: Waze, Foursquare, and even sampling software such as Shazam. Now think back to cookies, which despite the cute name, tracked–and continue to track–your location on the web. By trading convenience for privacy, are our lives becoming more like Minority Report? And how does Facebook, which many of us use to gather our news, add to that Minority Report experience?

Is Facebook Stalking You?

Say you’re interested in a topic that’s a little non-mainstream. For instance, chemtrails or robot wars. So you get on Facebook and search your usual favorite pages. You find an article you like: “101 Ways Chemtrails Are Destroying Your Health.”* You read said article for 23 minutes. Did you know that Facebook is now tracking the amount of time you spend reading articles? Even if you don’t like or comment on that article, you are being tracked, according to Facebook’s own blog. Supposedly, Facebook now will show you more relevant articles related to this one.

*Any resemblance to an actual article is unintentional.

Trending Topics is Like a Smart Timer

Trending Topics is Like a Smart Timer

Trending Topics is Like a Smart Timer

Facebook compares the amount of time you spend on a topic and weights the time spent to make up for any possible slow internet. This Engadget article about the upcoming newsfeed has more info about what topics you’ll see in your “improved” newsfeed. And maybe Facebook will know whether you left an article open while you leave your office to have lunch (perhaps because you’re not scrolling on mobile or because of non-movement on your computer).

Facebook Trending Topics

Facebook Trending Topics

Facebook’s Trending Topics

At present, Facebook shows the top trends on the right sidebar, which when clicked, expand into a bigger list. Here’s how Facebook describes what makes up the trending topics: “The topics you see are based on a number of factors including engagement, timeliness, pages you’ve liked and your location.” The description indicates that your content is customized to you. By the way, here’s a recent article I wrote onĀ Twitter’s trending topics.

Will Facebook Be a One-Stop Shop?

Will Facebook Be a One-Stop Shop?

Facebook Trying to Become One-Stop News Shop

According to Huffington Post’s article: Facebook Trending Experiment, “the Pew Research Center recently found that three in five American millennials said they consumed political news on Facebook in the past week, and in May 2015, the site launched Instant Articles in partnership with nine major international newspapers.” Trending topics is a way for Facebook to corral its users and keep them on the site as long as possible through topics that are more relevant.

The Tail Wagging the Dog

The Tail Wagging the Dog

The Tail Wagging the Dog

If you read the comments in most articles about privacy and data mining, most people don’t want to be told what to like. They still want to feel that they have a choice. Even if they do spend five hours a day reading about chemtrails or robot wars, they’d like to be able to jump around the internet at will, change their interests suddenly, and have control over what they consume.

Does Facebook Have Your Number?

Does Facebook Have Your Number?

Has Facebook Gone Too Far?

At what point will you think that Facebook has gone too far? Do you believe that it’s Time to Quit Facebook? Or are you willing to give away more of your privacy? Leave me a comment! I promise not to track you!

 

Twitter Trending Topics: Secrets for Using Them

 

Secrets to Using Twitter Trending Topics

Secrets to Using Twitter Trending Topics

When most people think of trending topics, they think of Twitter. But there are trending and popular topics across other platforms, too. If you’re just getting started on Twitter, here are ways to use Twitter as a listening tool. Google, Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter all have trending and popular pins and articles. There’s too much about trending topics for just one article, so it will be a series.

Catch a Trending Topic

Catch a Trending Topic

Catch a Wave

Trending topics can be like a wave. You might see one coming and decide to catch it. It’s not the most evergreen of content, but something that’s here one minute and probably gone the next. If that’s part of your strategy, it can lend an air of spontaneity to your posts. If most of your posts are scheduled and carefully crafted, having some spontaneity can add an element of fun.

Real-Life Trending Topics

Real-Life Trending Topics

Real-Life Examples

Above are trending topics, from my own Twitter account. The top one, about Amazon’s Prime Day, could be used by anyone selling something. You could say something about a July sale that isn’t disappointing. If you’re in music, you might want to comment on Neil Young pulling his catalog from streaming service. If your audience enjoys science, you could jump on the Charon (Pluto’s moon) trend. For someone in the social media arena, Kim Kardashian’s buying likes could be a major failure, and a good topic of conversation.

If Your Audience Enjoys Science, You Could Tweet about Charon

If Your Audience Enjoys Science, You Could Tweet about Charon

Find a Trend for Your Audience

You might not want to pick just any trend to post–decide based upon what your audience would like to see. For instance, I tweet about startups, leadership, and social media, so I’d want to make sure that those were the trending topics I posted. If you post about cars, look for trending topics around automobiles, tires, car safety, etc., which are fairly common.

Twitter’s New Detailed Trending Topics

As outlined in the Wall Street Journal, Twitter has recently added descriptions under its trending topics to give them some context. Previously, Twitter had a Discover tab (missed dearly by some of us old-time Twitter fans). Supposedly, these new and improved trending topics will add context to appeal to Twitter newbies. For anyone, having some context could be useful.

Check The Number of Tweets About a Trending Topic

You can also see how many tweets there are about a trending topic, although I wouldn’t base my decision to jump on a trending topic wave based solely on the number of tweets. For instance, the #GrowingUpUgly hashtag would probably not appeal to my audience, despite its 104 thousand tweets.

Local Trending Topics Can Be Useful

Local Trending Topics Can Be Useful

Change the Trending Topic to a Nearby City

The trending topics can be changed to another city. For instance, since I’m in the San Francisco Bay Area, I could switch from tailored topics to San Francisco to see what’s different. Just click at the top left (on desktop) to switch back and forth.

Trending Topics Change Per Region

Trending Topics Change Per Region

How Do You Use Trending Topics?

Do you pay attention to them at all? Or just ignore them? Leave me a comment!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Visit Us On TwitterVisit Us On FacebookVisit Us On PinterestVisit Us On YoutubeVisit Us On LinkedinCheck Our Feed