In yet another sign of Twitter’s TV obsession, the social network is is testing a “trending” box for television shows.
The experimental feature was first spotted by developer Anthony Geranio, and then reported on by TechCrunch.
Apparently, the “trending” box appears on top of users’ main timelines, and flows to the bottom of the screen as users scroll down. Clicking on the trending box leads to more information about the show, along with links to relevant Twitter accounts and related tweets.
It’s not clear what would cause these trending boxes to show up in the first place. They seem fairly intrusive, taking up half the screen on users’ timelines, so it might not make sense for Twitter to show them unless the user actively tweets about the show in question.
That assumes the trending boxes are anything more than a one-off experiment. Twitter told TechCrunch that the company’s philosophy is to “innovate through experimentation,” so even if the feature does become more broadly available, it could evolve or take on a different form.
In any case, it does show Twitter’s deepening interest in TV tie-ins. The company has a television ad-targeting program , where the same ads that appear on TV will show up as Promoted Tweets when users say they’re watching a live program. Twitter is also reportedly making deals to stream TV content, possibly mimicking the Twitter Music service that launched in April.