• by Colin Kirkland , July 19, 2024

X's strongest attribute is likely its position as a hub for public conversation around real-time events. This is why the microblogging platform previously known as Twitter is introducing “Trend Genius” ads, which utilize artificial intelligence to deploy “hyper-relevant ads” based on real-time conversation trends.

“We've seen time and again how time-consuming and labor-intensive it can be for advertisers and agencies to keep pace with culture; how challenging it is to swiftly deploy creative and paid media during the ‘lightning in a bottle’ moments relevant to their brand; and how ‘social media war rooms’ can only go so far,” the company posted on Thursday.

In response to this issue, X is trying to create a way for brands to capitalize on the pace of in-app conversation by hand-selecting the conversation topics it wants to align with such as the Olympics, professional sports leagues, fashion, music, AI and more.

X says that when conversation about an advertisers' selected topics reaches a heightened level or velocity on the platform, an ad featuring “preprogrammed creative” is automatically deployed on the platform. When conversation around a topic eventually calms down, the ad is automatically turned off, which X says will “maximize relevance of the paid ad creative” while “minimizing ‘waste.’”

Trend Genius can also be programmed via third-party data feeds, the company adds. This means that advertisers can serve specified creative and ads on X “on a hyper-local level” based on real-world moments like live sports game scores and outcomes, weather patterns and more. For example, if lightning is predicted to hit a certain location, advertisers can align their creative to be shown in their area when the lightning strikes.

The company says advertisers who have tested Trend Genius are driving record engagement rates,” although X's overall engagement stats have been misleading and inconsistent since Musk took over the app in 2022.

While Trend Genius has the potential to help brands maximize their ad spend on X, the success of the automated ad type will largely depend on the company’s AI models, which have come under recent criticism for generating incorrect headlines around serious breaking news events like the attempted assassination of former president Trump.