These are not the trends you're looking for

December 6, 2010 10:32 AM

Twitter appears to be censoring #Wikileaks.

The term #Wikileaks blows the other terms out of the water over the entire course of the day. It’s not like it’s even close. On average, it is nearly 3 times as popular as any of the other terms. Why then is #Wikileaks not listed as a “Trend” on Twitter. What explanation could there [be] for this? While Twitter is not explicitly removing posts about Wikileaks, it is actively preventing people from realizing the true scope of Wikileaks discussion, unless they’re already involved with it or seeking it out. This is no small detail. It effectively prevents Twitter from acting as a meaningful social utility.

A long analysis ensues at the link. Graphs there illustrate #Wikileak's popularity compared to Twitter's top five current official trends. Another analyst at Student Activism looks at the data and reverses his former position, agreeing that it is very fishy indeed.

A programmer for Twitter tries to defend the apparent anomaly, claiming that Trends "isn’t just about volume of a term but also the diversity of people and tweets about a term and looking for organic volume increases above the norm."

However, further analysis shows this claim to be dubious. Comparing past trend data for the summer movie Inception and for the BP Oil spill (a couple of last summer's most popular topics) to past and present #Wikileaks data only causes the anomalies to stack up.

There has been absolutely no trending for #Wikileaks since August 21. How can this be[?]
...
Therefore, I am forced to a similar conclusion as Student Activist. It might well be that #Wikileaks is failing to trend simply because of the algorithm failing to pick it up for whatever reason. However, I must say, that would imply that Twitter has written perhaps one of the most abysmal Trend Identification algorithms it could have possibly written. If the goal of the algorithm was to pick up events of importance, popularity or any other meaningful social metric, Twitter would have failed miserably in this aim, and would truly start looking into developing a new one.

posted by Marla Singer (31 comments total)

Because it's no longer "trending", it's simply highly discussed?

#tcot and things like it don't show up either, and I've always assumed that was why.
posted by rulethirty at 10:34 AM on December 6, 2010

A programmer for Twitter tries to defend the apparent anomaly, claiming that Trends "isn’t just about volume of a term but also the diversity of people..."

Maybe there aren't enough Republicans tweeting about it.
posted by Joe Beese at 10:36 AM on December 6, 2010

If something is hidden from the Trending Topics, does it cease to Bieber?
posted by defenestration at 10:36 AM on December 6, 2010 [10 favorites]

There are other open threads about wikileaks.
posted by empath at 10:36 AM on December 6, 2010 [2 favorites]

> Comparing past trend data for the summer movie Inception and for the BP Oil spill (a couple of last summer's most popular topics) to past and present #Wikileaks data only causes the anomalies to stack up.

This isn't an argument meant to deny culpability, but it's possible that the metrics by which Twitter gauges trends could have changed in the past six months. Comparison with other recent trend phenomena would be informative.
posted by ardgedee at 10:37 AM on December 6, 2010

If the state says Wikileaks doesn't exist?
posted by Mental Wimp at 10:37 AM on December 6, 2010

I'm still trying to decide if this tsunami of anti-Wikileaks activity came about because of the recent release of more US govt. documents, or because Assange claimed that his next release would target a large US bank.
posted by Thorzdad at 10:38 AM on December 6, 2010 [6 favorites]

This post was deleted for the following reason: Probably better as a comment in existing wikileaks threads.
posted by Plutor at 10:39 AM on December 6, 2010 [3 favorites]

From what I can find on how Trends are calculated, rankings are determined simply by the relative amount of Tweets that contain the respective phrase or hashtag. Specifically:

Nope, they changed that because the trend churn was really slow.

“The new algorithm identifies topics that are immediately popular, rather than topics that have been popular for a while or on a daily basis, to help people discover the ‘most breaking’ breaking news from across the world. (We had previously built in this ‘emergent’ algorithm for all local trends, described below.) We think that trending topics which capture the hottest emerging trends and topics of discussion on Twitter are the most interesting.”

Or perhaps the Protocols of the Elders of 4Chan are working behind the scenes for the US government?
posted by geoff. at 10:39 AM on December 6, 2010

Swiss bank has frozen Julian Assange's account.

4chan's Anonymous joins the fray.
posted by paradoxflow at 10:39 AM on December 6, 2010 [1 favorite]

I can't decide if the day Assange winds up dead is the day the fight begins or ends.
posted by fullerine at 10:40 AM on December 6, 2010 [4 favorites]

I changed my facebook profile pic to a wikileak in protest. I have already raised over 1.5 awareness.
posted by Eideteker at 10:40 AM on December 6, 2010 [6 favorites]

It isn't censorship. Censorship would be to delete all #wikileaks tweets and ban @wikileaks from the site. Trendinng is whatever Twitter wants it to be. It isn't the top hashtag, nor should it be. I predict that metafilter mods will censor this fpp though.
posted by humanfont at 10:40 AM on December 6, 2010

Well, twitter was close with the state department during the Iran election protests in 2009. Its not unreasonable to think its being done without outside pressure.
posted by SirOmega at 10:41 AM on December 6, 2010 [1 favorite]

I predict that metafilter mods will censor this fpp though.

I hope they censor it by suggesting that it be posted in one of two (or are there more?) open threads.
posted by fixedgear at 10:41 AM on December 6, 2010 [1 favorite]

I can't decide if the day Assange winds up dead is the day the fight begins or ends.

"I'm going to remind you all that no matter how I die, it was murder."
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 10:43 AM on December 6, 2010

4chan's Anonymous joins the fray

Assange: Doesn't afraid of fucking anything
posted by The Discredited Ape at 10:43 AM on December 6, 2010 [2 favorites]

Swiss bank freezes Assange's account. He engaged, after all, in actions "verging on the criminal", and as we all know Swiss banks have an image to maintain—only out and out criminal activities, please!
posted by kenko at 10:43 AM on December 6, 2010 [4 favorites]

pwned by paradoxflow. Oh well.
posted by kenko at 10:44 AM on December 6, 2010

With Twitter, I would never assign to malevolence what can be explained by incompetence.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 10:45 AM on December 6, 2010

However, I must say, that would imply that Twitter has written perhaps one of the most abysmal Trend Identification algorithms it could have possibly written.

Have you met Twitter?
posted by nicwolff at 10:45 AM on December 6, 2010 [2 favorites]

Why bother removing mention of wikileaks from a small sidebar when it's frontpage news everywhere?
Then again, I wonder why anyone bothers DDOSing it too.
posted by edd at 10:46 AM on December 6, 2010

Because it's no longer "trending", it's simply highly discussed?

No, it didn't stop trending, it has magically failed to trend at all spite of being far more discussed than any of the top five current trends.

This isn't an argument meant to deny culpability, but it's possible that the metrics by which Twitter gauges trends could have changed in the past six months. Comparison with other recent trend phenomena would be informative.

Comparisons with recent trend data were analyzed, in great detail. The links above provide quite a long and thorough analysis, and if you're interested I suggest you read it.
posted by Marla Singer at 10:47 AM on December 6, 2010

There are other open threads about wikileaks.

The last thread is three days old.

While I don't think this is the best post that could have been made on the subject, I personally think that the magnitude, and developing nature of the Wikileaks saga warrant a new post every few days, if anything does.
posted by paradoxflow at 10:49 AM on December 6, 2010 [4 favorites]

I've said it elsewhere, but it bears repeating...

Whatever else you want to say about Assange, you have to admit that he's got big brass ones.
posted by Joe Beese at 10:49 AM on December 6, 2010

Oh good christ. Twitter is using a Wilson-esque algorithm with a shifting window based on the current amount of traffic. It's why items rocket up to the Trending list so quickly and why the Trending list goes so crazy late at night. Given how #wikileaks had a small amount of traffic to begin with, and has slowly grown, and has only recently exploded, it's amazing it got to Trending at all. Come on, people, do a little research.
posted by mark242 at 10:51 AM on December 6, 2010 [2 favorites]

There are other open threads about wikileaks.

I thought this was a pretty huge story, big enough to warrant its own FPP, especially considering the volume of material to be absorbed in the links provided. If the mods decide otherwise, so be it. It's my first attempt at an FPP, so if I'm doing it wrong and this gets deleted, then I'll consider it a learning experience.
posted by Marla Singer at 10:51 AM on December 6, 2010

Look, I fully support WikiLeaks, and have denounced the witch-hunt against Assange as a likely US-inspired work of legal fiction.

That said... So what, about Twitter?

US company goes out of its way to avoid pissing off the US Government. Film at 11.
posted by pla at 10:52 AM on December 6, 2010

....it's amazing it got to Trending at all

Except that it didn't, actually. At all.
posted by Marla Singer at 10:53 AM on December 6, 2010

The last thread is three days old.

People are actively posting there.

the magnitude, and developing nature of the Wikileaks saga warrant a new post every few days,

Substitute 2008 US Election for WikiLeaks.
posted by fixedgear at 10:53 AM on December 6, 2010

You can't wish this away. Wikileaks, both in what it has revealed and in the attempts to silence it, is the story of the decade, and involve very interesting and discussion-worthy events that appear in succession. It's a bit like asking everything relating to WWII or the Obama administration to one or two "open threads." It would be annoying, counterproductive, and considering the scope and impact, more than a bit stingy.

Yes, the same-old, same-old should be corralled together, but this is something very new, and involves one of the largest social media companies in cahoots with the government to censor its users.

That is a Big Deal, Wikileaks connection or not.
posted by Slap*Happy at 10:53 AM on December 6, 2010 [1 favorite]