Trending Topics

In the Twitter world there is a recently new feature on the side of the Twitter interface which shows what are the Top Trending topics currently on Twitter.

The trending topics can range from current T.V shows on right now, breaking news stories, viral posts and #Hashtags.

When you click on the Trend on the right hand side of your screen.  Twitter Search will bring up all the live results for that Keyword or #Hashtag.  Many people do click on the Trending Topics often just to eavesdrop on whats going on with the latest gossip and events.

Exposure

Having a Trending Topic for your blog or brand is very lucrative to your business.  It provides high exposure and viral content.

With this exposure can also come with the exploiters and spammers.  If you think about it, many people are tracking and listening to the Trending Topics and clicking on the links.

A spammer or exploiter will “Mask” a Trending Topic Tweet and insert a non-relevant url that will either go to the spammer’s website or some other website that is deceiving.  Thus Hijacking the Trending Topic.

Below is an example of the “Twitter Hijacker” are you one?

#Fullservice Hashtag Hijack

One of the Trending Topics of the day is #Fullservice which represents the New Kids On The Block music tour called Fullservice.

Now clicking ont he Trending Topic will show some of the exploiters taking advantage of the exposure

Promoting your website that has nothing to do with the trending topic

Promoting a personal youtube video that has nothing to do with the trending topic

The infamous porno spammers

The same spammer is back with her old tricks

Another Spammer using the trending topic to promote a non-relevant website

Another porn spammer

As you can see people will take advantage of the Trending Topics to hijack to their own website promotion.

Just like in my last post I wrote about being a Twitter Re-Tweet Thief……. Don’t be a Twitter Hijacker

Post from: Social Media Vision

The Twitter #Hashtag Hijacker

Twitter Groups

Twitter does not technically have a Grouping Option and thus the Twitter #Hashtag was born.  The Twitter Hashtag explanation can be found here in my previous post.

Twitter groups are highly sought-after due to the need of Organization.  Twitter Groups are channels of where users express shared interest and content filtering.  

Currently Twitter has a lack of these channels unlike it’s competitor Jaiku.  Jaiku has an auto channel implementation by simply posting a hashtag with the group name and if the group doesn’t exist it will be created for you, sort of like the old chat room channel host days.

The Twitter People’s Champ vs The Twitter Snob

I wrote a controversy post about the 4 stages of Twitter.  In that post I explained the 2 stages of the Twitter People Champ and the Twitter Snob.

The Twitter Peoples Champ is the Twitter user that has a great follow back and follow ratio that’s almost dead even 50/50.  This is not to say to follow everyone and anyone (there are a lot of spammers and robots)

The Twitter Snob is the complete opposite and only follows a very select few, most of the selection is due to real life associates and only people the Twitter Snob wants to keep tabs on and nobody else.

So my solution to the Twitter Snob is not to shut out the world by not following no one.  You never know who may be a great network tool, an interesting Twitter friend or even just a new interesting Twitter friend, the point is you never know what value to follow that user back unless you try.

My solution was to have a more organized approach and to STILL KEEP YOUR SELECT TOP FRIENDS in a priority category by using Twitter tools like Tweetdeck.  Tweetdeck allows users to organize GROUPS within a desktop client so that way you can still keep tabs on the rest of your followers at your own convenience.

The problem is that still some people doesn’t like using a chat client due to work security or etc….so below is my new tip & technique in keeping your TOP FRIENDS via web browser….

Twitter Group alternative without downloading software

1. Make a list on who you want to keep as a priority in keeping updated with Tweets you want to follow as a priority
2. Clear your FAVORITES list in Twitter
3. Start by clicking the “STAR” icon on each of your TOP FRIENDS that you want to keep tabs on. (This will store your friends tweet in a Favorites Category in your Twitter homepage.
4. You can now access all your TOP FRIENDS in your Twitter homepage more easily now and just simply clicking on your friend’s link.  You will no longer have to find all your friends exact Twitter Address because now it’s conveniently stored in your Twitter favorites for you.

The only downside to this is you will sacrifice your Favorite Quotes on Twitter.  My solution would be to Snag-It or Print-Screen the tweet capture and just e-mail or store it for later.

Post from: Social Media Vision

Twitter Group Alternative Technique On Keeping Tabs On Your Faves

What is a #Hashtag?

The Twitter World uses “#“signs in front of “Keywords” or “Groups” and “Locations“ 

For Example: recently Thin Air Summit held a conference and called their Hashtag #TAS08 for Thin Air Summit 2008.

These so called # groups are called “Hashtags“ 

Hashtags by definition are used to create real time track records of creating groups on twitter. Placing the # sign in front of keywords or targeted groups, makes it easier to track all conversations in the twitter timeline via search.

Hashtags were most notable during the San Diego forest fires in 2007 when Nate Ritter used the hashtag “#sandiegofire” to identify his updates related to the disaster.

Some links to check out…….

http://hashtags.org/  is the website to track real time Twitter Hashtags being invented/used.

http://twitter.com/hashtags is the twitter account to follow in order to submit your new hashtags.

The famous  Chris Messina who started the idea of using Hashtags on twitter as a new means of grouping found here on his blog.

 Youtube video of Bwana explaining what is a hashtag.

Is #Hashtags dying?

Ok now that we are all caught up on hashtags, lets look deeper shall we.

Matt Browne wrote a great article on the Death of Hashtags on Twitter. He did an interesting search on different hashtags and found that by searching the actual words created the most reach of all.

Example:

• #barcampsd
• #bcsd08
• barcampsd
• barcamp san diego  <—-Ding Ding Ding, The Winner!!  
  

Post from: Social Media Vision

Twitter: What is a Hashtag?