Is something wrong with trending topics in Twitter?

I observed trending topics of Twitter for about one  and half hour (Dec21, 2009 between 6:35 a.m. and 8:00 a.m.) and found some serious irregularities. Maybe a bug or something else. During this time I opened all 10 of trending topics and compared it with what I really received in real-time. In two 15- minute  interval I started over and registered all numbers and captured related images. Here is some of my findings.

According to what I observed, during this time period Christmas and Xmas were respectively No. 1 and No.2 but in Twitter’s list they never made a ranking better than 6. Again RIP Brittany Murphy was constantly No.1 in the trending topics but according to my observation it never actually made a ranking better than No.4 during this time period. Again  one of  #Iranelection and montazeri were No. 9 or No.10 during this time period but they never entered the trending topics list. There have been  more irregularities and  anyone suspicious to my finding could easily examine it.

I could imagine somebody sitting behind a desk in Twitters office and looking at the trending topics. Thinking,… “Christmas” ??? NO!!! It’s too early for “Christmas” to be NO.1.  “Christmas” becomes No.6 and then thinking  … Brittany Murphy’s death is a tragedy. She was so young to be dead. Moreover it just happened yesterday. “Brittany Murphy” deserves to be No.1 and it becomes No.1. Thinking …. Iran has got enough attention and moreover that was just a few days ago that “Iranian cyber army” hacked Twitter … putting them in the trending topics may arises some problem. Better to be more conservative in political conflicts and then “#iranelection” and “montazeri” are expelled from trending topics.

I am not sure about extensive manipulation of  trending topics and they have said will do it to some extent but this much irregularities that I have observed is unbelievable and for the sake of people’ trust. Twitter should do something about it. And maybe I am wrong and will be pleased to learn from you.

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