Significance, Twitter, Local, Trends, Thailand

Twitter’s Local Trends feature finally reached me on Friday despite not initially including any Asian support it could play a big role in Thailand.

Launched a few weeks ago in Twitter’s typical “slow roll out” style – the new service is simple to explain, producing lists of trending topics (i.e. most used words on Twitter) based on location. From the Twitter blog.

Last week we began to slowly roll out a new feature called Local Trends to expose what people are talking about on the state and city level, and today we’ve fully launched so everyone can use it.

The big events that come up around the world will always become a global conversation, but what about the big events that only happen in your world that only matter to those around you?

Right now, Locals Trends is only available for Brazil, Canada, Ireland, United Kingdom and United States (though any countries trends can be viewed from any location). Despite this it has (perhaps THE MOST) potential for countries like Thailand where (1) media coverage of news is not always up to scratch and (2) the state censors the web.

If you wonder why social media is important in Thailand take a look at this excellent post from @s_narut on the GT200 scandal – Thailand has bought GT200 bomb scanners which are faulty and do not work properly (see Bangkok Pundit for more).

Why we can’t stop tweeting about GT200? Because (Thai) journalists will not naturally come to their senses and follow this story to the end. Unlike BBC [Thai] news reporters work much much more passively – they will report only what they’re told to.

All the authorities need to do is keep repeating that the devices work, and that there’s no need for further investigation. That’s why we still need to tweet, blog, post, write, shout, or do what ever we can in our best capabilities, in order to make sure that this GT200 story won’t just fade away, like it used to happen with story of Takbai incident, war on drugs, Rohingya, Santika, etc – the list just goes on and on.

And it isn’t just Thailand, many other countries Southeast Asia have weak press and censorship as, Ben Bland says, “on a basic level…the majority of governments in the region practice or have until recently practiced some form of authoritarian control.”

So here is a brief list of 6 ways Twitter Global Trends will affect Thailand and Southeast Asia, please do suggest any I’ve missed.

• Twitter will be more relevant. For example, only #barcampBKK and #weloveking have ever trended from Thailand, localised trends will give Thailand a voice which may encourage more users and increase awareness and therefore influence/significance for Twitter in Thailand.

• Twitter will encourage and promote spreading of local news independent of state and publishers – particularly interested re Thai politics, see the GT200 scandal for an example.

• Opportunity for local business to find share of voice. In Thailand’s case many overlook Twitter as Facebook has higher numbers but Local Trends may redress the balabce offering better access and visibility to customers.

• Twitter becomes a news barometer – separate to previous point, even non-uses find value in it. A widget or web app can be placed on a website providing an independent news voice from ‘the people’. Witness Twitter the newsgathering/reporting service.

• Less celebrity news – particularly from overseas, if you really want it you know where you can find it.

• Less obsessive Apple news, general overseas hype – more Apple Fanboys per user than rest of population, most of which are overseas. Will the hype din deafen?

With location set to be a major theme for social networks in 2010 this news will have further implications further down the line, perhaps with Twitter mashed-up with services – can you imagine trends over Google maps (if not then click here) or a Foursquare mash-up?

Language does remain a question mark for the region. Though Southeast Asia based users write in roman script, taking Thailand as an example, increasingly new users prefer Thai which provides a set of challenges for indexing and managing Trends. But as Twitter promises, it will come it time.

We’ll be improving this feature over time to provide more locations, languages, and data through our API.

Look forward to it, it will change how we use the service for the better.