• CNet, Monday, December 13, 2010 1:21 PM

Twitter just released a year-end list of top trends, and, as CNet notes, it was not unaffected by Twitter's own promotional efforts. "A handful of the trends appearing in Hindsight 2010 were 'promoted' trends, a part of the advertising program that Twitter began to roll out this spring, and at least one was the result of an official media partnership with Twitter," writes CNet. As such, the rankings provide insight into Twitter's "ad" strategy, and how it can affect the entire microblogging ecosystem.

Regarding Twitter's list of movie-related trends for the year, at least two -- "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World" and "Despicable Me" -- were promoted at their release via campaigns to purchase trends on Twitter. Also of note, the top trending entertainment awards show was the MTV Video Music Awards, which just happened to create an official "Twitter Tracker" app in conjunction with the service in order to spur chatter.

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