The trending topics sidebar is something that I have never really paid too much attention to on Twitter, least of all because many spammers try and use it to spam their agenda (it’s happened a few times). However, it has been the tool that broke newsbreaking news to me more than once over the last few months.
Yesterday I found out the sad news through trends that David Carradine had passed away. His passing was a big shock, as was the way he passed away, therefore news of his death was being twittered by everyone.
I still check the news everyday but I’ve noticed that I usually check Twitter first, therefore I’m sure it will continue to break news to me in the future.
What news did you find out through Trending Topics? Is it something you pay much attention to?
Kevin
Sadly, I also found out about my kung-fu idol death thru twitter trending topics
I guess it’s faster to use twitter trending topics than google trends to search for top news these days.
I use Twitter on a daily basis, and I always scan the trending topics frequently to update myself on what’s happening in the Twitterverse. In fact, that’s how I first found out about news stories such as Mike Tyson’s daughter’s and David Carradine’s death. I also take advantage of some of the sillier trending topics (#3hotwords, #crapsuperpowers, etc.) as a way of blowing off some creative steam during the workday.
-Bill Auclair
[...] FILED UNDER: Twitter News 19 June, 2009 // I spoke recently about how useful I find Trending Topics on Twitter. It’s a great place to find out about the latest [...]