Twitter started out, years ago, as a social service for a common techno-clique who all attended the South by Southwest music conference, so trending topics made sense. But since then, it’s expanded and fragmented into a mass medium made up of non-overlapping micro-communities. Everybody uses Twitter differently, but almost everybody consciously or unconsciously cultivates their feed. The trending topics are like a loud stranger wandering into your invitation-only party.

The Quick Bar is really about advertising, of course. Twitter is trying to make money off “promoted topics” for movies and consumer products. But I don’t think that’s the source of the real anger here. Most people see ads as a necessary evil so we can get free stuff. But we don’t understand why our screens are full of jibber-jabber about Brazilian TV presenters.

via Why Twitter’s Quick Bar on iPhone Doesn’t Work | News & Opinion.