Twitter Tells You What Your Neighbors Are Thinking

Yesterday Twitter added a number of cities and countries to the Trending Topics feature on the Web interface, allowing users to see what people are talking about closer to home.

That the announcement came shortly before the unveiling of Apple's iPad was either genius or insane -- genius because, of course, everyone's talking about the iPad. Insane because, of course, everyone's talking about the iPad.

What's trending in San Francisco? Take a wild guess. At the time of writing, not one, but two of the top trending topics are jokes about the absorbent power of Apple's new device during that special time of the month for ladies.

The iPad currently takes up seven of the top ten spots, with two going to discussion of the of the acquisition of Sun by Oracle, and a lone mention of David Blankenhorn, who's testifying today in the Proposition 8 trial on his theory that marriage is all about procreation and hence not right for the gays.

In fact, the iPad is pretty much the talk of the world -- or at least the parts of the world that Twitter is currently tracking. Even Twitter users in São Paulo, Brazil can't get enough Apple news.

The service currently only offers a small subset of American cities and a smattering of countries around the world, but if your community isn't listed, "We're working on it" says Twitter.

As for local newshounds? We'll, we're excited, since now we have a better idea of what topics will presumably drive the most traffic. So expect less boring municipal politics, and more expensive product launches and updates about your favorite reality television celebrities!

Jackson West admits he might actually pay attention to trending topics on Twitter for a change.