Twitter adding more context to trends list

Ever see the Twitter trends list and have no idea what the trending words and hashtags mean? You’re not alone.

As a result of the sometimes vague nature of the trends list, Twitter is rolling out updates that add more context to the curation tool.

This includes adding pinned tweets and descriptions on trends to help explain why a certain topic is trending.

The announcement was made on the company’s blog this week.

“Sometimes the right Tweet can help make sense of a trend. Starting today, some trends will have a representative Tweet pinned to them to give you more insight about a trend right away,” the company said in its post.

“In the coming weeks, you should see brief descriptions added to some trends as well to help add context to the trend. Descriptions will provide straightforward, clearly sourced context around why something is trending.”

The feature will first launch on the Twitter mobile apps, with plans to later add it to the website.

Unfortunately, South Africa won’t be part of the initial rollout.

The feature will roll out 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.

The company adds that they need to do more work to improve trends.

The algorithm does weed out abusive trends with the help of the curation team.

But this doesn’t stop people spamming trends with irrelevant tweets to promote their products. It also doesn’t identify trends that aren’t outright abusive but which promote xenophobia or other discrimination.

Feature image: Twitter