In social media, trending topics are what people are discussing and liking at a particular moment in time. Social networks compile these lists and display them on their home pages, in their feeds, and on their mobile devices. They also encourage users to discuss and interact with these trends by using hashtags.

Trending topics are also a great way to boost traffic to your online store. Using a trending topic is similar to using a popular search term, but there are a few differences.

Generally, a trending topic is a keyword that is popular on social media at a given time. The algorithms on most platforms are geared to match topics to user interest, and are based on factors such as location, previous likes, and user followers. For example, a Twitter user in New York City may see a topic about the Yankees, while a user in Los Angeles might see a topic about the Dodgers.

Some websites also have dedicated trending topics pages. You can find these pages by searching for trending topics on your favorite site. Usually, the trending topics will be listed in several places on the site, and may be separated into categories. However, some sites will only show trending subjects when you use specific search terms.

A trending hashtag is a short keyword used in social media that helps determine how often a post about a particular subject is shared on a social network. The number of retweets and shares that a hashtag receives is taken into account by Twitter’s algorithm to determine its popularity. When a hashtag starts to trend, a lightning bolt appears to indicate its popularity.

Google Trends is a free tool that lets you see what are the most popular keywords across the web. It is also a valuable resource for business research. This tool shows trending searches and topics, as well as related YouTube channels. There are tutorials on interpreting the data available on Google’s site.

Another useful tool is vidIQ, which is available for both Chrome and Firefox. These tools allow you to research keywords and track their volume. Depending on the platform, you can even get a daily alert when a trending topic reaches 500 views per hour.

Facebook’s Search & Explore page is another good place to discover trending topics. This page includes an image or poster of a popular topic, as well as similar posters from other social networks. Similarly, Instagram has an Explore page that displays the most popular tags and hashtags.

One of the most common trending topics is soccer, which has made the top five trending lists in the last two years. During the playoffs, teams from various regions start to appear on the top trends list.

Other social media sites have adopted the trending concept, allowing you to see the most popular topics in your niche. Using this information can help you boost your online store’s presence on more feeds, and help it to rank higher on search engines.