• by Larissa Faw , November 7, 2017

As Twitter seeks to become more relevant to advertisers and attract more ad spend, the social media platform is partnering with Brandwatch and Cheddar to provide agencies with real-time insights into holiday shopping behaviors and attitudes.

The #HolidayIsHappening initiative will analyze all holiday-related Tweets via "social listening" agency Brandwatch to compile insights into the most talked about gifts and brands, top Tweeted emojis, and most mentioned hashtags, spanning various categories, such as gadgets and toys, auto, fashion, entertainment, and food and drink.

Agencies receive briefs by signing up to receive direct messages (DM) via @TwitterMktg. Then, a DM chatbot will deliver information through December 31 based on the topic that is selected by the agency, averaging between 3-7 deliveries per week. In addition, they will be receiving regular communication through their Twitter sales representatives.

Live streaming financial news network Cheddar is hosting the #HolidayIsHappening news desk and will offer  insights based on social listening on topics such as Thanksgiving recipes or what brands people are talking about ahead of Cyber Monday. Segments run every Tuesday and Friday between 3 and 4pm ET at @cheddar through December 22.

This is the first time Twitter is giving agencies insights specific to the holiday season via this real-time approach. "While our team does provide analytical information on a regular basis on specific topics, this is unique in that it’s going to be real-time, and specific to holiday," says Twitter. There were more than 80 million Tweets related to the holidays between July 2016 to January 2017.