Twitter Mobile App Update Highlights Trending TV Shows

BY CHRISTINA WARREN

Twitter updated its iOS and Android apps Tuesday with new search filters and an enhanced focus on conversations around TV.

Under the "Discover" tab, Twitter now collates trending television shows based on a user's area, in addition to trending topics and hashtags. To access trending TV shows, users can simply browse through the list to pull up trends related to TV shows and local content.

The trending television shows are organized by popularity and/or when the show will air next. On Tuesday night, for example, The Voice was the top trending show until it stopped airing at 10 p.m. local time. Meanwhile, late-night shows such as The Daily Show, Jimmy Kimmel Live and Late Night With Jimmy Fallon showed up closer to their respective air times.

Interestingly, Good Morning America, which doesn't air until 7 a.m. ET, was the top-listed show as of 11 p.m. ET. This may indicate that networks or shows can pay for better placement, or it might just be the result of Twitter's internal TV algorithms.

When you click on a trending TV show, a collection of tweets around the show appears, just as it would for a trending topic or hashtag. Unlike a pure hashtag, however, trending TV shows aggregate conversations about a show across hashtags and conversations. For NBC's Chicago Fire, for instance, tweets mentioning "Chicago Fire," @ChicagoFireNBC and #ChicagoFire all appeared.

Twitter first started testing a "trending TV" feature in August. The company has increased its focus on social TV and conversations around television in the last year. In February, Twitter acquired social-TV analytics startup Bluefin Labs. According to the Twitter's S-1 filing before its IPO, Bluefin Labs was its most expensive acquisition.

Nielsen's Twitter TV ratings, which quantifies the number of users who post and view tweets about specific TV shows, debuted last month.

Industry studies have repeatedly indicated that increased Twitter conversation leads to higher television ratings.

As a public company, Twitter is hoping to leverage that power into advertising buys by brands, networks and the shows themselves.

Sources close to Twitter told us that Tuesday's "Trending TV" update is just the start of more TV-focused Twitter features. The company plans to do more to help users discover and discuss TV shows, with a focus on live events.

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Images: Mashable composite: iStockphoto, belterz; Mashable, Twitter for iPhone