Current Twitter trends: the fake death of Kanye West and 'Balloon Boy'

(AFP/LEON NEAL)

Reports of the death of American hip-hop singer Kanye West are being propagated and refuted on Twitter. The terms "#LongLiveYeezy" (referencing Kanye's "Yeezy" nickname) and "RIP Kanye West" dominate the top two spots on October 21 as the most discussed topics at 10:40 AM GMT.

Tweets quoting various lyrics from Kanye West's four studio albums, as well as admonishments against feeding the false rumor of the rapper's death, are currently flooding Twitter from all over the world. A suicide scene by West in the recently released short film We Were Once a Fairytale (directed by American filmmaker Spike Jonze) may have sparked the trending topic.

Rising six places, "Balloon Boy" shoots to no.4. Tweets debate the shenanigans of the Heene family, who propagated a hoax by pretending their six-year-old son had floated away in a giant balloon (as in Disney's recent animated blockbuster Up).

Technology is also dominant in Twitter's top 10 topics. References to Magic Mouse and iMac revolve around new products introduced October 20 by Apple, while the new Windows 7 operating system generates just enough tweets to creep in at no.10.

The top 10 most talked about topics on Twitter on October 21 at 10:40 AM GMT are:

1. #LongLiveYeezy (new)
2. RIP Kanye West (new)
3. #igottacrushon (new)
4. Balloon Boy (+6)
5. Facebook Lite (new)
6. Magic Mouse (new)
7. Goodnight (-3)
8. Halloween (-3)
9. iMac (new)
10. Windows 7 (new)