Trending is a curated list of videos and topics that capture the current zeitgeist on YouTube. It’s not something that’s picked by hand, but rather based on an algorithm that uses machine learning to analyze search and engagement data to identify trends. YouTube also considers the relevance and community impact of each video when selecting content to appear in the Trending tab.
Trends are constantly changing, reflecting what people are talking about at any given time. They can be as broad as celebrity gossip or political events, or as specific as a fashion style or popular music album. They can also be as long-lasting as a fad or a resurgence of a forgotten genre, or as short-lived as a meme or viral video. But whether they last a day or a year, trends show us what the world is currently interested in and talking about.
As a business, tapping into trends is a great way to generate visibility and reach on your social media channels. You can create trend-inspired content that reflects your expertise and resonates with your audience, while maintaining your brand voice and integrity. But, beware of jumping in too quickly—there is a fine line between being timely and sacrificing value to jump on the bandwagon. Trends almost always have an expiration date, so make sure you’re focusing on creating evergreen content that your audience will be interested in even when the trend is gone.
In the past, YouTube’s trend selection process was based on manual curation. However, now most of the Trending videos are selected using an algorithm. They aren’t influenced by the channel owner or their account, and they’re not ranked by popularity (like home feed videos). The algorithm is designed to pick interesting and relevant videos for each user by considering their location, interests, and other factors.
The algorithm looks for videos that are unique, surprising, and engaging to a large number of users at the same time. It considers a variety of criteria, including the growth rate of view counts over a certain period, the amount of views the video has received, and whether the views are coming from diversified or concentrated sources.
Additionally, the algorithm takes into account the context of each user, such as their age, gender, interests, and location. It also filters out uncredible, unsafe, or inappropriate content. Finally, it takes into account feedback from users such as blocks and clicks to improve the accuracy of the algorithm.
The process of identifying and ranking trends is iterative, with each new iteration improving the system to ensure that more relevant videos are shown to users. Some videos are excluded entirely for a variety of reasons, such as clickbait or sensational content that doesn’t live up to its description. In addition, videos that are too niche or obscure will have a harder time showing up on Trending lists. YouTube is also careful not to feature videos that violate its community guidelines.