Twitter Trends & a Tip

My favorite aspect of Twitter has long been the personal immediacy—seeing what’s happening in my world right now.  The trending topics found on search.twitter.com now make this possible on a global scale.  Yes, newspapers, news sites, Google trends, and my personal favorite, The Economist, all give me a sense of what has been happening in the world lately.

However, none of these sources match the velocity and focus provided by Twitter.  At a glance I’m able to see what the world considers important in this moment, which lights a path to explore what matters to me.  The trending box in the sidebar makes a great dashboard widget for Mac users.  At the press of a button, my day starts with a sense of what the world cares about.  How do you use Twitter trends?