Name your trend — Twitter trends in a friendly way
While mucking around with Twendly, it became quickly apparent that there are numerous different types of trends. Some come around with surprising regularity, others flash and then disappear, while some just hang around and won’t go away. For a bit of fun, I thought I’d try pick out what the common trend patterns are with an example of each from Twendly.To name a pattern, I thought a few things would need to be true. It needs to be observable, predictable given some knowledge of the item trending and repeatable — other trends can show this pattern. I’ve identified six common patterns — I’m sure there are more out there. I’ve named each of them after birds in true twitter fashion. They are:
- The Woodpecker
- The Peacock
- The Dodo
- The Albatross
- The Rooster
- and The Swallow
Each name had to match the “personality”of the trend, and I’ve tried to be globally relevant (I could of named something the Lyre Bird or the Kookaburra but I’m not sure everyone knows exactly what these are).1. The Woodpecker
The Woodpecker
This one is obvious. It repeats regularly and loudly although the intervals might change.2. The peacock
The Peacock
The peacock is the trend of the celebrity, flashy, showy and loud it bursts on to the scene and dominates conversation then just as quickly disappears.3. The Dodo
The Dodo
The dodo is extinct. Here today, gone tomorrow, it never really flew and was more than likely just a little bit silly. Differs from the peacock in that it never dominated the trend completely.4. The albatross
The Albatross
This one is a little more subtle, is it a dodo or a woodpecker with a really long interval? It’s neither — it’s the albatross. It has a strong signal, but it’s out there circling around the globe, you know it will come back, you’re just not sure when. Viewed over weeks (I haven’t programmed that yet which is why you the seven day view above) you’ll see it come in and out regularly.5. The Rooster
The Rooster
The Rooster struts around like it owns the place, poops over everything else and is generally loud and noisy, it’s hard to be heard when this trend is crowing.6. The swallow
The Swallow
This trend is always buzzing around, flitting in and out depending on the weather, product releases or any other numerous reasons. It just won’t go away and when it does, it always comes back.