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The problem is using "trending" as a content discovery algorithm in the first place. "Trending" just means that the topic is being referenced by the largest vo

The problem is using "trending" as a content discovery algorithm in the first place. "Trending" just means that the topic is being referenced by the largest volume of accounts. Even if you can say with certainty that every one of your accounts represents an actual, legitimate person, you still have the problem that all "trending" does is surface content that's preferred by whichever of your users can mobilize the biggest angry mob. And if you can't say that with certainty (which bot-flooded Twitter absolutely cannot), "trending" becomes a wide open battlefield, trivially subject to exploitation by whoever has the largest budget for sock puppets. "Trending" isn't an editorial strategy. It is the abdication of editorial strategy. It's being asked by Twitter among others to do much more than it is capable of doing, and their users suffer as a result.

tomp 8y ago
> "Trending" isn't an editorial strategy. It is the abdication of editorial strategy. Not sure I understand your point. “Trending” is exactly what it says on the cover. On the other hand, calling topics picked by the editor trending would be a bit of a perversion of the meaning of the word, no?
- marmaduke 8y ago
  Patent means that editors should help people find new content, not an ML algorithm under the guise of editorial effort
  - tomp 8y ago
    I partially agree; I see value in both.
- jakelazaroff 8y ago
  Trending topic is a bit of a misnomer. Twitter isn't identifying "topics" here, per se; they're just extracting the most common substrings verbatim from recent tweets. A human editor might see a topic like this becoming popular and summarize it as "Synagogue Vandalism". They wouldn't just present it as "Kill All Jews" with no other context.
- jbob2000 8y ago
  Trending has connotations of acceptance. When wearing jeans is trending, for example, it might mean that jeans are “good” and “acceptable” to wear. The “trending” you’re referring to would be better described as “high traffic”. There’s a hundred thousand people on the roads rushing to get home right now, that doesn’t mean that traveling by car is “trending”.
ppod 8y ago
>dos surface content that's preferred by whichever of your users Glass houses, hacker news..

tomp 8y ago

> "Trending" isn't an editorial strategy. It is the abdication of editorial strategy. Not sure I understand your point. “Trending” is exactly what it says on the cover. On the other hand, calling topics picked by the editor trending would be a bit of a perversion of the meaning of the word, no?

marmaduke 8y ago
Patent means that editors should help people find new content, not an ML algorithm under the guise of editorial effort
- tomp 8y ago
  I partially agree; I see value in both.
jakelazaroff 8y ago
Trending topic is a bit of a misnomer. Twitter isn't identifying "topics" here, per se; they're just extracting the most common substrings verbatim from recent tweets. A human editor might see a topic like this becoming popular and summarize it as "Synagogue Vandalism". They wouldn't just present it as "Kill All Jews" with no other context.
jbob2000 8y ago
Trending has connotations of acceptance. When wearing jeans is trending, for example, it might mean that jeans are “good” and “acceptable” to wear. The “trending” you’re referring to would be better described as “high traffic”. There’s a hundred thousand people on the roads rushing to get home right now, that doesn’t mean that traveling by car is “trending”.

ppod 8y ago

>dos surface content that's preferred by whichever of your users Glass houses, hacker news..