Trending, if we agree to it

[bcholmes]

While I have no way of proving it – and no reason to go further because I am not an investigative journalist – there is strong evidence, at minimum, to suggest that Twitter was in fact actively restricting topics related to Troy Davis. It is plausible that this topic may not have trended around the world but is is highly unlikely, if not impossible, that a story generating as much discussion as this topic all around the web would not trend somewhere in the top 10 topics on Twitter. It is far less likely it would not trend in the very city serving as the epicenter of the story.

Even if true, Twitter is well within their right as a free social media site to manipulate and censor topics as it sees fit. In fact, Twitter has made the decision to censor their publicly trending topics on at least two known subjects: (originally) the Egyptian Uprising and WikiLeaks. However, it is misleading for national media outlets and Twitter itself to claim it is the source for an accurate portrayal of what people (or it’s over 200 million members anyway) are discussing.

— "Troy Davis and the Twitter Black Out Conspiracy"

Comments

[egret]

Thanks for that link. Twitter's behavior was disturbing. I was impressed that some users made efforts to compensate by pointing to good Twitter sources following the Troy Davis case.