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Twitter will monitor tweets to find the biggest holiday trends

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Social media’s immediacy makes it possible to discover trending topics and news. Twitter is taking that one step further with a new insights platform catering specifically to the holiday season.  On Nov. 7, Twitter announced its first-ever holiday insights campaign. For users, the tool will help in find trending gifts, while businesses and marketers can find real-time insight into industry trends.

Twitter will be monitoring tweets and watching for top themes and trends using partnerships with Brandwatch and Cheddar. As tweets pop up, Twitter will both look for holiday trends in gifts and purchase patterns along with discussions on holiday recipes and other plans. Twitter says it’ll watch a number of different holiday-related topics, including the most mentioned hashtags and most-used emojis, along with hot gifts and the most-discussed brands.

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That data will become bi-weekly news programs airing on @Cheddar via Twitter every Tuesday and Friday between 3 and 4 p.m. ET. Twitter says the program will help viewers stay on top of trends, so you can avoid buying that fidget spinner when the real trend is a Fingerling, Twitter suggests.

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For businesses, that collection of real-time tweet data will help drive marketing campaigns using the most relevant trends. The new @TwitterMktg #HolidayisHappening chatbot will send real-time insights via Direct Message for businesses that sign up for the new tool. Twitter says the data will focus on tweets that show purchase-intent from the ingredients for that Thanksgiving recipe to the most tweeted Cyber Monday sales, rather than what Christmas shows to watch or what ugly sweater to wear to that party.

The company says last year brought 80 million holiday-related tweets between July 2016 and January 2017. By analyzing those Tweets using Brandwatch, Twitter will help monitor holiday trends for both consumers and businesses.

The Cheddar broadcasts launch on Nov. 9, while businesses can now sign up for the insights delivered via Direct Message by using the @TwitterMktg #HolidayisHappening chatbot.

Tweet trends already provide data for Popular Articles and trending hashtags for the Explore tab (and third-party companies monitor tweets for everything from marketing trends to what we’re eating). Twitter says this is their first campaign for holiday-related insights.

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