Let's Be Trends (an API)

Brought to you by Thing Labs, the makers of Brizzly.

Let's Be Trends is an API for getting information about trending topics on Twitter. (Later, this may include other trend-making services.)

The explanations for trends are provided by users of Brizzly. Any user can edit or correct an explanation. Join our Google Group at http://groups.google.com/group/lets-be-trends or contact us at api@thinglabs.com if you have questions, feature requests, or suggestions.

Let's Be Trends API

method: current_trends
method: get_trend
parameter: international explanationsExperimental
Most calls return JSON except where indicated.

current_trends

What it does:

Returns a list of currently trending topics and descriptions.

URL:

http://letsbetrends.com/api/current_trends

Response:

{
    "trends": [

        {
            "locked": 0, 
            "name": "GoodNight", 
            "last_trended_at": "2009-09-21T17:35:02Z", 
            "first_trended_at": "2009-09-21T17:35:02Z", 
            "query": "GoodNight OR #goodnight", 
            "description": {
                "text": "It's always nighttime somewhere.", 
                "created_at": "2009-09-21T22:21:48Z"
            }
        },
        ... truncated ...
    ], 
    "as_of": "2009-09-21 23:25:52.689549", 
    "api_version": "1.0"
}

Examples of how to use this method:

Returns JSON.
curl http://letsbetrends.com/api/current_trends

Returns a feed for use in feedreaders like Google Reader.
curl http://letsbetrends.com/api/current_trends.atom

get_trend

What it does:

Returns a description for a given trend.

URL:

http://letsbetrends.com/api/get_trend?name=goodnight

Response:

{
    "locked": 0, 
    "name": "GoodNight", 
    "last_trended_at": "2009-09-21T17:35:02Z", 
    "first_trended_at": "2009-09-21T17:35:02Z", 
    "query": "GoodNight OR #goodnight", 
    "description": {
        "text": "It's always nighttime somewhere.", 
        "created_at": "2009-09-21T23:27:07Z"
    }
}

Example of how to use this method:

Returns JSON.
curl http://letsbetrends.com/api/get_trend?name=goodnight

international explanations

What they are:

A parameter can be added to several methods to return information for a given trend that's from a certain locale. It'll fall back to English if nothing was found. These explanations are experimental and may not have translated data at first, but as Brizzly adds more locales these will become populated.

Supported languages:

  • English - "en"
  • French - Français - "fr"
  • German - Deutsch - "de"
  • Japanese - 日本語 - "ja"
  • Portuguese (Brazil) - Português (Brasil) - "pt_BR"
  • Spanish - Español = "es"

Example of how to use this parameter:

Returns JSON.
curl http://letsbetrends.com/api/get_trend?name=goodnight&lang=es