Twitter is pretty sure though that it has the pulse of the 8% of America that has a Twitter account (Honestly, how many of those accounts are really active, Twitter? If you told us that you would be actually telling us something.). In their blog they give some insight about their list
These Trends indicate the things that are most meaningful in our lives. Each day on Twitter, people tweet about news, sports, entertainment and cool new technology–and everything else in between. The list of 2010 Twitter Trends reflects what’s happening in our world,demonstrates the power of turning any event or story into a shared experience, and underscores Twitter’s value as a real-time information network.
Drumroll please! Here are the Top 10 Trends on Twitter for 2010 that indicate what shapes our lives and are most meaningful! (Cymbal crash!)
1. Gulf Oil Spill
2. FIFA World Cup
3. Inception
4. Haiti Earthquake
5. Vuvuzela
6. Apple iPad
7. Google Android
8. Justin Bieber
9. Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows
10. Pulpo Paul
Ok, let’s see. Number 1 was (and still is) very important. Number 4 is probably, in the big picture, more important than #1 because of the level of human suffering still going on. Let’s see, Number 2 is a soccer tournament. Number 3 is a movie. Number 5 is a plastic horn. Numbers 6 and 7 are technology. Number 8 baffles me to this day. Number 9 is a movie (oops, there is a book as well but since it’s more than 140 characters I am not sure how many Twitter users actually read it). And finally, Number 10 I had to look up and be reminded that this is the recently deceased octopus that apparently could pick World Cup games.
The net result of this is me scratching my head and asking “Is this all we could come up with that is most meaningful in our lives?”. This list is more about the distractions people use to ignore actual important things like the economy, mid-term elections, threats of war and many other things.
My point here is that Twitter is getting pretty full if itself when it has the stones to call these results “most meaningful”. Meaningful is a relative term. How about “most tweeted” or “most passed along without thinking” because that’s all they are. Tweet bots and people trying to gather up automated hordes of “followers” are what is mostly represented here.
Look, I think that Twitter is very interesting and it has its place for sure. But allowing the 8% of the population that has a rather narcissistic view of the world from the get go to define meaningful is, well, ridiculous.
What’s your take? Is this list about what was most meaningful or about what was most popular? More often than not those two things don’t even hang out in the same zip code together.
Let’s hear it.
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