Is Twitter Blocking Issues Like #Benghazi From Trending? Ways To Get Around The Algorithm
Is Twitter Blocking Issues Like #Benghazi From Trending? Ways To Get Around The Algorithm
By Jeff Rainforth aka iResistAll on Twitter
For the past three weeks, several of us have been involved in a campaign to trend Benghazi on Twitter. The point is to keep the issue in the public eye, and to pressure GOP members of the House to form a Select Committee to investigate the killings of four Americans, and why help was not sent.
The first few weeks, we were extremely successful in getting Benghazi to trend nationwide on Twitter. Then it started becoming more difficult, even though the number of Tweets being posted about Benghazi were the same, or more than the prior week's posts when the topic trended. I looked into the possiblity that Twitter was keeping the #Benghazi hashtag off of the trend list. The picture below seems to confirm that they may be.
On Friday, August 16th, we attempted to trend Benghazi once again with little luck. Notice that the hashtag #Pats had a little over 600 Tweets per hour, and was trending in the top position. At the same time, the #Benghazi hashtag had over 1300 Tweets per hour, and yet was no where to be found on the trend list. Is Twitter, whose executives are well known liberals, censoring conservative topics from trending? It's certainly possible. There may be another explanation also, though.
Twitter uses an algorithm to determine what topics trend. Generally speaking, the algorithm determines the latest breaking news, and newly popular issues. Topics that have trended in the past, may not trend in the future, or will be more difficult to trend unless new people begin Tweeting about the topic. It's Twitter's way of keeping large groups such as Justin Bieber fans from dominating the trend list everyday. While it may be easy to accuse the company with its politically liberal leadership of censoring conservative trends, it is more than likely that the algorithm has determined issues such as Benghazi as not being "breaking news." So how do we get around the algorithm?
It is possible that we can use a different hashtag for Benghazi in order to get the issue to trend. The algorithm may determine a new hashtag to be breaking news. We can experiment with hashtags such as #Benghazi4, #BenghaziSelectCommittee, #Justice4TheBenghazi4 etc. In upcoming Benghazi Tweetfests, we may try doing just that. What we really need to do though is, to get new people Tweeting about Benghazi. We need to spread the word of the events better. The algorithm will determine if there are enough new people Tweeting about Benghazi, and it will trend if there are. It's up to us to work smart as we try to keep the issue in the public eye on social media sites such as Twitter. We can continue to trend issues such as Benghazi, we just need to know how Twitter's system works, and find ways to manipulate it to our advantage.
On a side note, Benghazi did finally trend on that Friday. It trended very briefly, and more than two hours after the Tweetfest had begun. A small victory for us, and the activists who worked to get it there.
Article from www.jeffrainforth.com.
Jeff Rainforth, aka iResistAll on Twitter, is chairman emeritus of the Reform Party of California, former candidate for governor, and a PatDollard.com contributor.
Is Twitter Blocking Issues Like #Benghazi From Trending? Ways To Get Around The Algorithm
http://patdollard.com/2013/08/is-twitter-blocking-issues-like-benghazi-from-trending-ways-to-get-around-the-algorithm/
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