Twitter has identified the six fastest-growing topics its users are tweeting about, claiming they reflect fundamental shifts in U.S. culture. It’s worth thinking about these trends when we consider the way we use social media as part of a branding campaign.
The insights, Twitter says, will help businesses better understand the fundamental shifts within broader culture, which can assist with creative development, product development, marketing, and consumer engagement. It can also help them stay on the cutting edge of culture.
“Understanding what’s happening matters more than ever, because consumers care about a brand’s cultural relevance,” according to Twitter.
Social Media Today recommends tapping into the right hashtags and monitoring shifts over time to stay one step ahead of the competition.
What Twitter did
Twitter used machine learning to remove commonplace topics and fads, such as politics and sports, then analyzed billions of Tweets over a period of three years – from Jan. 1, 2016, to June 30, 2019 – to come up with the most-used hashtags.
Twitter then identified 18 conversational trends and created a dedicated “Trend Pack” for each of the 18 trends that uncovers conversation growth, key drivers, related hashtags, emoji sentiment, and Tweets. The 18 trends were then divided among six main topics: Well Being, Everyday Wonder, One Planet, Creator Culture, Tech Life, and My Identity.
As Twitter explains it: “These reflect fundamental shifts in U.S. culture and provide a window into what’s starting to matter more and more to consumers as we enter a new decade.”
The conversational trends
Here is a summary of the six main topics and the 18 conversational trends that Twitter identified:
- Well Being: focus shifts from the outside in. The conversation centers around “well being” and “self-care.”
- Data-driven bodies
- Holistic health
- Being well together
- Everyday Wonder: fascination with the cosmos. The conversation centers around “meaning” and “wonder” in relation to the universe.
- DIY spirituality
- In awe of nature
- Cosmic fascination
- One Planet: focuses on taking action and finding innovative solutions to create a more sustainable culture. The conversation centers around “action” and “innovation.”
- Ethical self
- Sustainable steps
- Clean corporations
- Creator Culture: includes makers, builders, and entrepreneurs and pushes creativity into mainstream culture. The conversation centers around “creator culture.”
- Creative currency
- Hustle life
- Connecting through video
- Tech Life: imagines the possibilities of a more connected, more efficient, more expansive future. The conversation centers around “the future of technology.”
- Blended realities
- Future tech
- Tech angst
- My Identity: empowered individuals living out loud, sharing passions, breaking stereotypes, and demanding more on issues of gender and diversity. The conversation centers around “identity.”
- Fandom
- Gender redefined
- Represent me
What comes next
Twitter says it will refresh its insights into the conversations shaping culture on an annual basis. It says it will also expand to additional markets in 2020.
Such refreshes will help businesses improve their own Twitter outreach and performance, according to the platform.