This article was published on June 12, 2012

Twitter tweaks its algorithm to better tailor trends to your tastes


Twitter tweaks its algorithm to better tailor trends to your tastes

Twitter has been hard at work trying to surface more of the people, places and things that you really care about. Trending topics has been a way to keep up with news, but they’re not necessarily things that you might be interested in. For the most part, goofy memes always rule the day unless there is some major breaking news happening.

The company shared on its blog today that it is tweaking the algorithm to show you topics that are similar to your tastes, based on who you follow and where you are:

Trends help you discover the emerging topics people are talking about on Twitter. You can see these topics as a worldwide list, or select one of more than 150 locations. In order to show emerging topics that matter more to you, today we’re improving our algorithms to tailor Trends based on your location and who you follow on Twitter.

These Trends lists are tailored for you by default on twitter.com and mobile apps like Twitter for iPhone and Twitter for Android. If you don’t wish to see tailored Trends, but instead want to see a more general list of Trends, just change your location on twitter.com. Of course, anytime you want a glimpse into the conversations that are happening on Twitter around the world, you can always select individual countries and cities to see Trends in those locations. Look out for tailored Trends as they roll out gradually starting today.

By introducing its “stories” feature through the Discover tab, Twitter is trying to give you content that you’ll actually engage with, rather than passively let stream by in a series of noise.

Tailored trends are rolling out today, so let us know your thoughts in the comment.

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