FAQs about Trends on Twitter
Where can I find Trends?
When signed in to Twitter.com on a desktop or laptop computer, Trends are listed on the Home, Notifications, Discover and Me tabs. Find them in the column on the left side of the page.
Official mobile apps and mobile.twitter.com display Trends on the Discover timeline. Access the Discover timeline by swiping your Home timeline horizontally.
How are Trends determined?
Trends are determined by an algorithm and, by default, 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. Location Trends identify popular topics among users in a specific geographic location.
What does the # sign mean?
You may notice that some Trends have # 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 Change in your Trends box. You can choose to Keep tailored trends based on your location and who you follow, or you can select Change to choose a nearby location or search locations. If you don't find 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 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 troubleshooting section for solutions to common problems.