TWITTER STORM

What Does TWITTER STORM Mean?

TWITTER STORM means "A Super-Hot Trending Topic On Twitter."

A TWITTER STORM is a message on Twitter that attracts a very significant amount of attention from other Twitter users. When a tweet and hashtag are tweeted and retweeted quickly enough, the topic is included on Twitter's "trending" list and displayed to all Twitter users, even those who are not followers of the original poster. This often leads to the original tweet crossing to other social media sites and the mainstream media.

A TWITTER STORM is usually a natural phenomenon, driven by a tweet that captures the public imagination. However, as it is such an effective way to quickly spread an idea or opinion, many advertisers and organizations try to provoke a TWITTER STORM in order to gain publicity.

According to a 2011 report by Precise, a UK-based business information monitoring group, there are three types of TWITTER STORM: 

• The Perfect TWITTER STORM: A story that starts on Twitter and, through a feedback loop with traditional press, generates a significant amount of attention across a broad audience,including people who are not Twitter users.
• The Storm in a Teacup: A story that generates a comparatively small amount of interest on Twitter, but is picked up by a large number of mainstream media outlets. (This usually happens when the mainstream media attempts to anticipate online trends before they actually occur.)
• The Twitter-Only Storm: A story that sparks a significant volume of messages on Twitter, but is only of interest to a specific group and is not picked up by mainstream media.

Example of TWITTER STORM Used in a Text