What brands can capitalise on with Twitter trends: report
The 2022 Twitter Trends report analysed billions of Tweets from 2019 – 2021, finding three salient movements dominated the bulk of conversation on the platform. The findings reveal what conversations brands and marketers can capitalise on, or engage with on the platform.
Talk on Twitter reveals where the zeitgeist is heading – and that’s something incredibly critical for marketers to be attuned with. The recent 2022 Twitter Trends report revealed the top 3 emerging and existing topics talked about on the platform were social justice activism/personal identity, gaming and personal finance (including cryptocurrencies and binance).
The watershed events of the last two years have heightened the focus on social inequalities in Australia. In defining moments like #March4Justice and #SchoolStrike4Climate, data from Twitter reveals that Australians are ‘increasingly listening, learning, and engaging with activists from all walks of life’.
While addressing inequality has always mattered to Australians, the conversations around it have intensified and become much more nuanced. Intersectionality is now at the forefront of these conversations on Twitter. Aussies are recognising that external factors like climate change are having a compounding impact on marginalised communities.
Brands can engage and play a part through ‘active listening’, ‘harnessing micro communities around core issues,’ and ‘amplifying diverse voices’.
Emerging topics in this realm include:
- +81% Trans Joy
- +35% Pronoun recognition
- +18% Assigned male at birth
- +29% Cognitive diversity
- +12% Personal identity
Gaming and esports trends a huge opportunity for marketers
Esports and gaming saw a massive hike in interest on Twitter, with a huge shift towards community based gaming. People are spending more time watching livestreams of pro gamers in action and other gaming content – this trend points to a burgeoning opportunity for marketers to reach huge and potentially brand new audiences through esports and gaming advertising.
Gaming conversations found a place at the heart of Twitter, where players, esports leagues, publishers, media, streamers, fans, and commentators connect and talk about all the latest in gaming.
Conversations on gaming have increased 93% YoY.
There is also a 1,560% increase in conversation surrounding play-to-earn crypto gaming, and 286% YoY growth in conversations around metaverse platforms.
Finance, binance and crypto boom
With the emergence of cryptocurrencies, digital wallets, and ‘buy now, pay later’ services, conversations about finance have been growing — going up by 152% YoY. However, these conversations are happening against the backdrop of rising living costs and interest rates, with Aussies more cautious about where they spend their hard-earned money.
There’s also been a 113% YoY increase in artist entrepreneurs entering the conversation — particularly talking about art as an investment asset class — creating a strong intersection between arts, culture, and finance.
There is a 333% YoY surge in mentions around crypto.
From cryptocurrencies to NFTs, Twitter has become the central place to talk about decentralised finance (DeFi) — a financial system that functions without intermediaries, like banks. Australians appear to be still learning, with Twitter serving as a learning ground for sophisticated and complex discussions around the future of finance.
Twitter encourages brands to make conversations around the future of finance and crypto more ‘fun’ and accessible.
Brands are encouraged to think about “how they can create something that’s meaningful to their community”. For example, the Australian Open launched the world’s first collection of NFTs to be connected to live match data. Blending art, sport, and technology, the “AO Art Balls” collection gave tennis fans the opportunity to engage with Australian Open in a new way, as NFT holders.
When asked if Twitter was following in the steps of the Australian Government in its strident regulation of finfluencer content, Twitter confirmed it didn’t have any regulations for this community set in stone yet.
“We have regulations surrounding the advertisements, but no regulations have been confirmed as of yet for crypto and finance content,” a representative from Twitter Australia told Mumbrella.
Key findings: fast facts
- Twitter saw a 58% increase of LGBTQIA+ conversations and content.
- A 39% increase in conversations around First Nations was seen. A lot of these conversations are focused on information boosting. This includes societal/community issues, politics or crowd-funding/support for individuals.
- There’s also a strong and growing community of advocates with a collective vision to create a safer world for women, and who are vocal about the need for structural change to achieve gender equality (+23%).
- Emerging trend: conversations around ‘identity’ are becoming more nuanced, with Aussies looking to understand about how intersections of gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, and other facets of identity, impact people’s experiences and perspectives.
- Conversations on gaming have increased 93% YoY.
- Big volumes of conversation across the gaming communities on Twitter are around the metaverse (+8,181%) and AR (+12%). Twitter is seeing these conversations expand to metaverse technologies including avatars, NFTs, and VR.
- Emerging trend: With the emergence of cryptocurrencies and play-to-earn games, the possibilities of decentralised gaming will be a growing topic of conversation among content creators and others in the gaming industry. This includes conversations around TreeVerse, crypto gaming and cloud gaming.
- The DeFi conversations are wide and growing across Digital Currency (+101%), Blockchain (+108%), and Bitcoin (+172%)
- Emerging trend: data indicates a rise in conversations around the lesser known crypto exchanges such as Bitpay, Bistamp and Dash.
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