Earth Day is almost here! And if you’re an environmentally-conscious person, you probably have heard about ways we all can help the Earth such as by recycling and planting trees. But how much do you know about environmental issues that directly effect your family?

Now’s your chance to learn more about these issues and sustainable living at Happy Family’s Sustainable Living Earth Day Twitter Party to be held this Thursday, April 18, 2013 at 9pm ET!

If you’re a mom, chances are you’ve heard of Happy Family. Your children have likely tried their healthy foods for babies, toddlers and kids. Or maybe you’ve tried Happy Squeezes – their product line for adults. If so, you might also know that Happy Family Baby Foods are organic and 100% natural, made without any pesticides or preservatives.

Happy Family is also a community committed to the well-being of families. It’s called “Generation Happy” and through Happy Family you can take the Generation Happy Pledge, get special VIP offers and connect with other moms in your area and all over the world who are as committed to their children’s health and well-being as you are!

This Thursday, join this community for the latest in a series of Twitter parties hosted by @HAPPYsuperfoods, all of which have had topics that are important to parents of small kids. We’ll be discussing current environmental issues and how you can make the best choices for your family’s health and well-being. To learn a little bit more about the topics that will be discussed, visit the Happy Family blog post dedicated to Earth Day. One cool tip they share is that when you register with sites like Recyclebank, you can even save on your favorite Happy Family products just by earning points. So you’ll be doing some good for the Earth and your family too!

As an added bonus, simply by joining in the Twitter party and by RSVP-ing to the party on the official Happy Family party page, you’ll be entered to win one of the awesome prizes to be given away during the hour, including fun items from Honest Tea, Citrus Lane, Applegate Farms, Happy Family and more! (Must be a U.S. resident over 18 to win. See official rules here.)

We will also be joined by a group of panelists who will be on hand during the party to lend advice and answer any questions about sustainable living: Jordan from @HonestTea, Jason from @CitrusLane, Shiloh from @Everyday_Family, Happy Blogger Tina @tinaseitzinger, and Happy Blogger Sarah @MerryMessyLife.

How do you join the party? First, RSVP by leaving your Twitter handle in a comment on the official Happy Family Twitter Party page. Then, just log onto your Twitter account at 9pm ET on April 18th, follow @HAPPYsuperfoods and tweet using the party hashtag #HFEarthDay. You can see everything everyone at the party has to say by searching for the hashtag in Twitter search, putting the hasthag into an easy, web-based program like Tweet Chat, or follow along with this custom page Happy Family has created at Tweet Grid. If you’re still not sure about how a Twitter party works, check out our Beginner’s Guide to get started.

For more information and updates (and to RSVP!), please be sure to visit the #HFEarthDay Twitter Party page!

TweeParties was compensated for this post and for helping out with the #HFEarthDay Twitter party to be held on April 18, 2013. 

Do you know a lot about Happy Family? If you’re a mom, chances are your kids have sampled their healthy & delicious foods for babies, tots, kids. Or maybe you’ve tried one of their Happy Squeezes – their product line for adults? If so, you might already know that one reason mom’s love Happy Family Baby Foods is because they are organic and 100% natural, made without any pesticides or preservatives.

But did you also know that Happy Family is also a community committed to the well-being of families? It’s called “Generation Happy” and through Happy Family you can take the Generation Happy Pledge, get special VIP offers and connect with other moms in your area and all over the world who are as committed to their children’s health and well-being as you are!

Which is why we are excited to announce another Happy Family online event aimed at helping parents have a healthier winter:

Happy Family’s Staying Healthy in Winter Twitter Party to be held Thursday, January 24, 2013 at 9pm ET!

Join @HAPPYsuperfoods for an hour-long party/chat on Twitter about ways we can all stay healthy this winter! Whether it’s getting more active, or boosting our Vitamin D, join this event to trade ideas & tips and get some expert advice on staying as healthy as possible during the winter months.  This is the latest in a series of Twitter parties Happy Family has hosted, all of which have had topics that are important to parents of small kids. What’s great is that there are so many members of the Happy Family community who attend these Twitter parties, that by joining in, you have an opportunity to chat with like-minded moms and maybe make some new Twitter friends along the way!

As an added bonus, simply by joining in the discussion and by RSVP-ing to the party on the official Happy Family party page, you’ll be entered to win one of the awesome prizes to be given away during the hour, including $100 worth of Happy Baby products! (Must be a U.S. resident over 18 to win. See official rules here.)

We will also be joined by a group of panelists who will be on hand during the party to lend advice and answer any questions about winter health. The panelists include Amy, Nutrition Advisor for @HAPPYsuperfoods, Elise from Green is Universal (@greenisuni), Chandra from Stonyfield (@Stonyfield), Jo-Lynne from Rose Romano’s (@RoseRomanos), Charise from I Thought I Knew Mama (@IThoughtIKnewMa), Christina from Theraderm (@Theraderm) and Carrie from Weleda (@Weleda).

How do you join the party? First, RSVP by leaving your Twitter handle in a comment on the official Happy Family Twitter Party page. Then, just log onto your Twitter account at 9pm ET on November 20th, follow @HAPPYsuperfoods and tweet using the party hashtag #TravelWithHappyFamily. You can see everything everyone at the party has to say by searching for the hashtag in Twitter search, putting the hasthag into an easy, web-based program like Tweet Chat, or follow along with this custom page Happy Family has created at Tweet Grid. If you’re still not sure about how a Twitter party works, check out our Beginner’s Guide to get started.

For more information and updates (and to RSVP!), please be sure to visit the #HFWinterHealth Twitter Party page!

TweeParties was compensated for this post and for helping out with the #HFWinterHealth Twitter party to be held on Jan. 24, 2013. 

Sometimes tweets can do a lot of good. We’ve seen this happen during times of natural disaster, when a single tweet can alert family members that a relative is safe, or spur on action by people to help, donate or volunteer. Or in areas of the world with political strife: one tweet can help people mobilize in protest, disseminate vital information, or tell people in other parts of the world exactly what is happening to them through words, pictures, and video — often when their government won’t.

As the news of the tragedy in Newtown, CT began to unfold, people took to Twitter and Facebook to express their shock, anger and support for those affected by the shooting. Social media became a community that people could turn to, to offer support and collectively try to make sense of it all.

However, some companies scrambled to try to figure out what to do with their scheduled programming. Should marketing campaigns be put on hold? Should a live event on Twitter be canceled or go on as planned?

The results were mixed: some Twitter chats were canceled or rescheduled, while others carried on as planned; some advertising on social media ceased, while other posts and tweets continued. In what is still considered to be an evolving medium, it seems that on social networks — at crucial times — confusion reigns. But the backlash can be swift and sometimes unforgiving.

For example, Kmart had a toy chat scheduled for the afternoon that the news broke. They decided it would be best to cancel it. In tweeting about the cancellation, they used their chat’s chosen hashtag, but also included a hashtag about the Connecticut shooting that was trending at the time.

A spokesperson for Kmart said the use of the promotional hashtag was necessary to inform those who were planning on participating in the chat of the cancellation. However, some have argued that their goal could have been reached by using only the hashtag intended for the chat, not the trending tag as well. By including the trending tag in the tweet, it appeared to some that they were taking advantage of the trend to gain greater exposure for their promotion. According to Kmart, that was not their intent. But unfortunately, it came across that way to some of those who were following the trending topic hashtag.

Some lessons to be learned in similar, difficult situations:

When in Doubt, Don’t Tweet (or Post). Posting about anything business or sales-related in the middle of a tragic event can cause others to question your sensitivity. If you have any doubts about whether or not the timing is appropriate–don’t do it. Rescheduling a chat or delaying posts won’t cost you much in time, but will help you save face. Also, when most people are seeking more information about a breaking story, or trying to cope with the news and are reacting very emotionally to it, they are not likely to be interested in hearing your marketing messages or taking part in a Twitter chat. So why risk it?

Never Hijack a Hashtag. It’s one thing to contribute meaningful content to an existing tag. But don’t combine it with any other hashtag, no matter how well-intentioned. Some have done it by mistake; others wrongly seize an opportunity.

Be In Tune With Your Followers. Take a look at their tweets. Take their emotional temperature. Are they reacting strongly to something? Then make sure your tweets are appropriate and do not offend. No one knows this better now than Kenneth Cole, who sent out a tweet during an uprising in Egypt that not only included a trending hashtag, but also mentioned one of Cole’s products, and seemingly made light of a terrible situation. An apologetic tweet sent two hours later did little to put a positive spin on this gaffe. (Some even wonder whether the designer truly regretted the original tweet, and perhaps even subscribes to the ‘There is no such thing as bad publicity’ theory.)

We’ve all heard the expression, When in Rome, do as the Romans do. When encountering a sensitive situation, the best advice for a business might be to do as everyone else does: turn off the marketing messages and be a human being.

Join us TONIGHT December 19th at 8pm ET for a special, 2-hour Twitter Party during the LIVE East Coast broadcast of the 2012 Miss Universe® Pageant!

Party sponsor and 2012 Miss Universe® sponsor @ChineseLaundry will be tweeting live backstage photos, as well as giving away pairs of shoes in the same styles you’ll see worn by the contestants! (Must be a U.S. resident to win). NO RSVP required — just join in!

We’ll be chatting about the competition, tweeting fun trivia questions, and having special Pinterest & photo retweeting contests!

Just tune in to NBC at 8pm ET and follow @ChineseLaundry and @TweeParties! Tweet using the hashtag #CLMissUniverse to follow along.

Are you (or are your kids) a fan of Happy Family? They’re the makers of healthy and delicious foods for babies, tots, kids and now adults with their new line of Happy Squeezes. Happy Family Baby Foods are also organic and 100% natural, without any of the yucky stuff like pesticides or preservatives. If you’ve tried them and love them, then you probably know all that, right?

What you might not know is that Happy Family is also a community committed to the well-being of kids and families. It’s called “Generation Happy” and through Happy Family you can take the Generation Happy Pledge, get special VIP offers and connect with other moms in your area and all over the world who are as committed to their children’s health and well-being as you are!

Which is why we are excited to announce another Happy Family online event aimed at helping parents relieve a little bit of stress this holiday season:

Happy Family’s Surviving Holiday Travel with Kids Twitter Party to be held Tuesday, November 20, 2012 at 9pm ET!

Join @HAPPYsuperfoods for an hour-long party/chat on Twitter to trade ideas & tips, get advice and commiserate with other moms about this hectic time of year and what steps you can take to make sure any trips you take with your little ones run as smoothly (and the kids stay as healthy) as possible! This is the latest in a series of Twitter parties Happy Family has hosted, all of which have had topics that are of great importance to parents of small kids. What’s great is that there are so many members of the Happy Family community who attend these Twitter parties, that by joining in, you have an opportunity to chat with like-minded moms, get new ideas and tips, and maybe make some new Twitter friends along the way!

As an added bonus, simply by joining in the discussion and by RSVP-ing to the party on the official Happy Family party page, you’ll be entered to win one of the awesome prizes to be given away during the hour, including $100 worth of Happy Baby products! (Must be a U.S. resident over 18 to win. See official rules here.)

At this event, @HAPPYsuperfoods will also be joined by a group of panelists who will be on hand to lend advice and answer any questions about traveling this holiday season with kids. The panelists include Amity Hook-Sopko editor of Green Child Magazine, Emily Roach founder of Random Recycling, Laura  founder of @MOMables, Maureen founder of  @myterrababy, and Brenna Founder of @AlmostTruth.

How do you join the party? First, RSVP by leaving your Twitter handle in a comment on the official Happy Family Twitter Party page. Then, just log onto your Twitter account at 9pm ET on November 20th, follow @HAPPYsuperfoods and tweet using the party hashtag #TravelWithHappyFamily. You can see everything everyone at the party has to say by searching for the hashtag in Twitter search, putting the hasthag into an easy, web-based program like Tweet Chat, or follow along with this custom page Happy Family has created at Tweet Grid. If you’re still not sure about how a Twitter party works, check out our Beginner’s Guide to get started.

For more information and updates (and to RSVP!), please be sure to visit the #TravelWithHappyFamily Twitter Party page!

TweeParties was compensated for this post and for helping out with the #TravelWithHappyFamily Twitter party to be held on Nov. 20, 2012. 

Over the years, we have all seen the articles: Facebook Beats MySpace; Twitter Challenges Facebook; Will Google+ Take Over Social Media?–And so on. We are often left guessing which titan will fall, and when they do, who will be there to lay claim to the pieces.

However dominant Facebook may now seem, there appears to be a shift in the air: people are playing favorites. Not everyone logs into the same social network everyday. Some networks appear to be attracting certain demographics, turning many into ‘niche networks.’

For example, LinkedIn has positioned itself as the networking leader for business people, while Pinterest has really caught on with females, especially those who love crafting, cooking, decorating and family fun ideas. A jobseeker might log into LinkedIn first thing in the morning, eager to make new connections, while an avid Pinterest user might create a new board to pin ideas on while she enjoys her morning coffee.

New social networks that have cropped up recently are being described as new alternatives to the old standards: Pheed.com and App.net offer social media users a twist on the social network. Pheed.com allows those who create ‘channels’ either offer content for free or charge for it, which some believe might create more meaningful, worthwhile posts. App.net is a paid service that promises add-free content. We checked out Pheed recently, which seems to carry itself with an edgy, cool, ‘insiders’ feel, thanks to a soft launch that courted a number of celebs and musicians. While app.net has positioned itself as an alternative to Twitter, one for those who are serious about technology and  seriously opposed to advertisements.

Rather than seeing one social network replace another, it’s more likely that these networks and any others created hereafter will succeed if they can find — and retain — certain niches (we can’t lay claim to the idea; they’re already being called ‘niche networks’ by many). The idea here being that certain formats and online venues naturally attract certain people. Someone who logs into Pheed to check out his favorite independent artist is most likely not spending the rest of his day pinning pins on Pinterest, and vice versa.

How can this help your business when it comes to social media? Know that it might not pay to be everywhere. Social media is free in the sense that many sites don’t charge a fee to use them, but time really is money. Posting on every site out there might not be worth your time or effort. Instead, know your audience and find your niche. Where are your customers hanging out? On Twitter? Then focus more on tweeting and developing a conversation with them. Are your products visually appealing and likely to be pinned & repinned? Then concentrate more on creating fabulous photographs that will make their way across boards on Pinterest. Are you an up-and-coming brand whose future clients are teens who love hip hop? Then it would be worth setting up a channel on Pheed. Social media can be time consuming. Most of us can’t be everything to everyone. It’s best to find where your audience is and be there too; connect with them where they’re opening and willing to take part in a conversation.

With Hurricane #Sandy barreling down in the East Coast and major power outages expected, @FEMA (The Federal Emergency Management Agency) issued a statement today urging people to stay connected via social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook when other modes of communication fail. One of many tweet reads:

People’s in Sandy’s path are also being urged to charge up their phones and to follow certain Twitter accounts, such as @FEMA, for updates, alerts and tips. Local governing agencies are also setting up or pointing people to certain Twitter accounts to keep people informed, since many might still be able to access social media sites via phone during the storm.

During many emergencies over the last few years — tornadoes, hurricanes and the tsunami in Japan — people who found themselves without a landline or land internet connection — were able to connect via smartphone. Many Twitter accounts, especially those for news services and government agencies, dedicated their Twitter accounts to posting information and updates about the disasters. People also were able to locate family members and friends via social sites.

Here’s a list of sites & accounts to follow during #Sandy:

National Hurricane Center – get text/email updates

@NHC_Atlantic – National Hurricane Center

@usNWSgov – NOAA’s National Weather Service

@WeatherChannel – The Weather Channel

@TWC_Hurricane – The Weather Channel Hurricane Updates

LIVE Updates/News from the New York Times

GOOGLE Map for Hurricane Sandy

GOOGLE Map Specifically for New York City

Article by Lillian Sanders, Guest Contributor

If you are looking for a new job, you may be judged on your credit rating as well as your social media rating. For jobs that require a good understanding of social media, how often you update your Twitter and Facebook, as well as what you post, may help you get hired.

Third-party companies like Klout use data from many social networking sites to create a score that represents how much influence you have. The higher your score, the more people pay attention to what you have to say. Unfortunately, a high number of followers is not enough to raise your score. You must also engage your followers and influence them with your messages.

In 2009, noted blogger Anil Dash was on Twitter’s list of suggested people to follow. Although he gained upwards of 100 new followers per hour, this did not increase his website traffic, replies or retweets on Twitter. This is because these new followers were not listening to his messages, nor did he have any influence on them.

Twitter co-founder Evan Williams believes that retweets are more important than the number of followers. Retweets help you reach a larger audience, and since they trust the person who retweeted your message, they are likely to trust your message. Twitter does tell users when and who retweeted their message, but they do not display how many users saw your message.

Klout uses a complicated algorithm that is designed to measure how important social media users are. It gives each user a number from 1 to 100, with 100 being the most influential. Companies can use this number to help their customers. Hopefully, this number will not be used to tell how important a person is, but rather give ways the company can help the person.

Some hotels have already started upgrading a person’s room based on their Klout score in hopes the person will give a positive review on Twitter or Facebook. Instead of giving perks to only a select few, companies could use this information to suggest local restaurants and attractions based on the person’s interests on social media sites. In addition to a number score, Klout also gives a list of topics that the user tweets about regularly. This would help the company make suggestions, and the customer will be happy with their stay and have a positive opinion of the company.

This seems to be a better way to use Klout and social media influence. Since not everyone uses social media for their jobs or pleasure, it seems unfair to punish those with a low score. It is like picking the most popular person out of a room and offering them an upgrade.

Lillian Sanders is a creative writer from Michigan. She thanks TweeParties for the guest posting opportunity. As a writer, Lillian is contributes to CD Duplication in Orlando helping create marketing presentations.

Twitter announced this week changes to its API that will limit the number of times a third-party client can access Twitter (see Mashable article Twitter’s API Update Cuts Off Oxygen to Third-Party Clients to learn more).

While this news has some developers scrambling (or seething, depending on who you talk to), what exactly does this mean for the general Twitter populace? For starters, it could change how you tweet.

API or ‘application programming interface’ is basically the gateway to Twitter for other apps. There are limits on how many times an app may contact Twitter, and this week Twitter restricted those limits even more. According to Twitter, these changes are intended to “deliver a consistent Twitter experience” for users. Twitter is trying to encourage the development of apps that help with things such as analytics and influence rankings, and discourage use of apps for aggregating tweets or apps that people would use as a Twitter client instead of using Twitter itself. This makes sense for Twitter: they want people to use their client and see their ads and promotions, not someone else’s.

However, many third-party clients are popular not just in day-to-day use, but for communicating more easily during Twitter chats and Twitter parties. Applications such as Hootsuite, Tweet Chat and Tweet Grid are used by thousands every day to attend chats. At the start of nearly every Twitter party we host, we tweet out a “custom link” for people to more easily attend a party via TweetGrid. As of right now, attending a Twitter chat strictly on Twitter without the help of a third-party client is not an option many users want to take.

This isn’t to say that all chat apps are immediately being put out of business or that the chat apps we mentioned above are done for; however, they might be limited on how much they can grow, the maximum number of users they can have, and how many tweets they can access per hour. So it is possible some of our favorites will be affected and we might have to get used to the idea of attending a chat in a different way. Twitter says they will work with some developers who have reached their limits to gain more access than what is allowed. But how many apps and which ones will get special treatment are still for the most part unknown (though tweet collector Storify was mentioned by Twitter as being an app that exemplifies the types of Twitter apps developers should be creating.) This could lead to serious issues for Twitter chats and Twitter parties as the events grow in popularity. Many of these apps are free to use, and exist with the hope of generating ad revenues to fund themselves. This clashes with Twitter’s goal of generating ad revenue, and could be a reason why these limits now exist: to turn eyes away from apps and back to Twitter where their clients’ ads are running.

On the bright side (if you can call it that), Twitter-owned aggregator Tweet Deck most likely will not be compromised. It works in the same way as many of the third-party aggregators and since it has the Twitter stamp of approval, we can only guess that it would not be subject to strict API limitations. In the future, we might be instructing Twitter party and chat attendees on how to use it for a better chat experience. Or much to the disappointment of developers and Twitter users alike—the only option for a better chat experience.

In requests for more information about our Twitter party and Twitter chat services, we are often asked, “How can I get my hashtag to become a trending topic on Twitter?”

The question’s frequency makes sense: To have your hashtag or brand name displayed along Twitter’s ‘trending topics’ column is a coveted position, with the top or ‘promoted’ trend costing an advertiser a reported $120K to achieve it. Trending topics are seen and monitored by millions of sets of eyes per day; to be one of them can be game-changing for a company. When a user clicks on a trending topic, they will see a list of all recently-tweeted tweets that contain that term. For companies, this means having more people learn about them and get introduced to their products and services. And free advertising that could be seen by millions is impossible to resist.

What exactly makes a topic trend?

According to Twitter, “an algorithm determines which topics are ‘trending’ in the location you’ve selected. This algorithm identifies topics that are immediately popular, rather than topics that have been popular for a while or on a daily basis.” What this means is, one million people each day might tweet Justin Bieber’s name, but sheer volume doesn’t make a topic trend. A trending topic usually represents a surge of tweets, even if the volume is less than that of a topic tweeted about regularly. It’s Twitter’s way of trying to keep is users aware of what is current and newsworthy. If sheer volume was the only factor, Justin Bieber might be the top trending topic every day for years, making the whole point of having trending topics useless.

How do I do it?

Often a trending topic is something that is newsworthy that suddenly becomes talked (or tweeted) about by a large number of people at the same time. For example, an event being watched on t.v., such as an awards show or sporting event, are likely to become part of a trending topic due to the number of people who are likely to tweet about it at or around the same time. So there is the element of timeliness as well as volume that seems to make for a trending topic. Your goal then should be to get a lot of people tweeting your hashtag at the same time. If you do not have a national stage to work with (such as a high profile t.v. show or event), then a great way to attempt to achieve this is a Twitter event, such as a Twitter chat or party. Twitter parties occur at a specific time, have a certain hashtag that people will tweet to be included in the event, and usually have a significant number of attendees online at the same time who will tweet using that tag. However, simply deciding to have an event and holding it won’t guarantee that your hashtag trends; you still have to put together a quality event with a skilled host, informative content, noteworthy or high-profile guest contributors and awesome prizes and special offers to really get some buzz. We’ve found that those elements are a big draw when it comes to Twitter parties, and are most likely to get tweeted about. However, there is a downside to becoming a trending topic during a chat: hashtag spam. Once you’re topic starts trending, beware of spammers hijacking your tag by using it to promote their own links completely unrelated to yours. Be prepared to offer followers of your chat an alternative hashtag to switch to for purposes of the chat, to steer clear of spammers and get the chat’s conversation back on track.

How not to do it.

Twitter has specific guidelines for hashtags and tweeting that, if not followed, could get your account flagged when trying get your hashtag to trend. If you see another topic trending and try to get your hashtag noticed by including it in a tweet along with the other trending topic’s hashtag, that is considered spammy and unacceptable (Twitter does not like unrelated hashtags in tweets; it’s misleading). Repeatedly tweeting you hashtag, or encouraging others to do as much as possible so as part of a tweeting contest, in an attempt to get it trending without adding value to the conversation the hashtag is part of is another no-no (tweeting contests are acceptable if limited to one tweet per day). Also, taking a trending topic hashtag and tweeting out links to your profile or website along with those trending tags is another way to get into trouble. On Twitter, like everywhere else on the web, organic is good. Create hashtag tweeting opportunities that are natural and not forced. While it’s great to get a topic to trend, it’s even better to provide excellent content to your followers, become a value to them, and remain in good standing with Twitter.

With ‘Tailored Trends,’ Are Trending Topics as Valuable as They Once Were?

Recently, Twitter allowed users to get ‘tailored trends’ — or to turn their list of trending topics into a column customized just for them. Twitter says this about tailored trends: “Trends offer a unique way to get closer to what you care about. Trends are tailored for you based on your location and who you follow.” To turn this setting off or on in your own account, go to the “change” button next to the trending topics column. Click on that, and you’ll get the option either to turn this feature off or on, depending on your current settings. The intent of this feature is to help users see trends related to those issues/places/people who matter most to them. Tailored trends takes into account a user’s location and those users he/she follows to come up with a list of trends that are relevant that user alone. With this feature turned on, the topics you see trending are no longer the same as what everyone else is seeing, but rather made just for you. What does this mean for trending topics in general? When your hashtag trends, it may not be seen by as many eyes as in the past, since everyone might not see the same trends. However, if you don’t succeed at making your hashtag trend on a worldwide (or countrywide/citywide scale), it still might have the ability to trend to your followers — or those who might really matter to you and who are already eager to hear what you have to say. Tailored trends might have put somewhat of a damper on widely-viewed trending topics, but on the flipside, the service might help topics that would normally have trouble trending on a large scale now get noticed more easily. On another note, if you are hosting a chat or party, and see your hashtag ‘trending,’ check to make sure whether or not you have tailored trends turned on. You just might be ‘trending’ to a limited audience, rather than citywide, nationwide, or worldwide.