What the Trend Style Guide

1. Be brief, but descriptive and factually accurate, with good grammar and complete (or nearly complete) sentences.

Ex. #cpc09

LESS IDEAL: conservative press conference [Note: This is not what CPC stands for, at least in this instance.]
MORE IDEAL: The British Conservative Party Conference is taking place in Manchester Oct. 5-8, 2009.

Ex. 2 Zombieland

(hypothetical) LESS IDEAL: Sweet new zombie flick that just came out.
MORE IDEAL: An American post-apocalyptic horror comedy movie, in theaters Oct. 2, 2009.

2. Leave your opinions in the forums ;)

Ex. #youcantdj

LESS IDEAL: because you can't DJ (and apparently I hate grammar)
(hypothetical) MORE IDEAL: People are tweeting hallmarks of a bad DJ.

3. Include dates when necessary in the form of [month abbreviation] [number without "th" or "rd," etc.], [full year number]

Ex. Desperate Housewives

LESS IDEAL: TV show. Airs Sunday nights. Season Premiere 09/27/09.
MORE IDEAL: The season premiere of this ABC show airs Sept. 27, 2009.

Ex. 2 Stargate Universe

LESS IDEAL: Series premiere tonight.
MORE IDEAL: The third Stargate series premieres tonight (Oct. 2, 2009).

*Note that you can leave the year off if it's an official holiday that happens every year on the same day.

4. No links.

Ex. E-commerce Design

LESS IDEAL: smashingmagazine.com posted an article entitled "15 Common Mistakes in E-commercie Design and How to Avoid Them" http://bit.ly/18EK6W
MORE IDEAL: From the title of a Smashing Magazine article: "15 Common Mistakes in E-commerce Design and How to Avoid Them."

Ex. 2 #ImTwitaddicted

LESS IDEAL: Because @Alyssa_Milano has a *lot* of followers? The genesis was this tweet: http://twitter.com/Ayssa_Milano/status/4592310192 and it trended up to 4th place in about 45 minutes; further to 3rd place in another 15. Go, Alyssa!
MORE IDEAL: Actress @Alyssa_Milano started a hashtag about why she is addicted to Twitter and fans joined in.

5. Trends regarding recurring events (sports, tv shows) can be generic and saved.

Ex. Bears

Rather than change describe who they are playing every Sunday or updating the score every ten minutes, we can just say:
MORE IDEAL: The Chicago Bears (NFL) often trend when they have a game.

Same goes for any sport:

(hypothetical) MORE IDEAL: The New York Knicks (NBA) often trend when they have a game.
(hypothetical) MORE IDEAL: Venus Williams (tennis player) often trends when she has a match.
MORE IDEAL: Chelsea (Premier League soccer) often trends when they have a game.

If you do feel compelled to describe an actual match:

MORE IDEAL: The Chicago Bears are playing the Green Bay Packers in NFL Monday night football today (Oct. 5, 2009).
MORE IDEAL: Chelsea is playing Liverpool in Premier League soccer today (Oct. 4, 2009).

TV example: FlashForward

(hypothetical) LESS IDEAL: FlashForward is on right now.
MORE IDEAL: FlashForward is a new science fiction drama on ABC based on the Robert J. Sawyer novel that often trends when fans are watching.

*Note that worldwide trends will default to American English. Local trends if/when available will use local terms/spellings/languages where possible.

*Furthermore if there is some kind of major news or scandal, of course the trend should reflect that.

6. Certain hashtag definitions probably will not change.

Examples:

#MusicMonday
#MM
#FollowFriday
#FF
GoodMorning
GoodNight

7. Use the word "tweet!" when appropriate

Ex. #TmobileSucks

LESS IDEAL: People are complaining about T-Mobile Sidekick service outages.
MORE IDEAL: People are tweeting complaints about T-Mobile Sidekick service outages.

Ex. 2 Halloween

LESS IDEAL: People are starting to discuss what they will wear for Halloween, or the parties they are going to (Oct. 31, 2009)
MORE IDEAL: People are tweeting about their costume ideas or parties they will attend (Oct. 31).

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