Twitter #Trend Watch: Too much of the same thing?

For brands trending on Twitter is the new Facebook app – a big check-in-the-box. Just today there were 4 promotional trends (I kid you not!) which says a lot about how everyone is jumping on the bandwagon.
Here is a snapshot on the trends. 

#LoveForLenskart  
@lenskart_com conducted a contest with sunglasses as giveaways. Participants needed to use the hashtag, answer 10 questions, tag 5 friends and RT all the questions.  #Phew!

#snapdealquiz
@snapdeal ‘s quiz (again with 10 questions) was less intrusive. Participants needed to answer the questions using the hashtag and 10 winners would be gratified with 8gb pen drives.

#chandikibarish
Another quiz hosted by @bullionindia with 10 questions where each one of them had to be answered and 3 winners would be chosen.

#chennaiexpresslive
And the most unimaginative Twitter contest was conducted by @_tseries to promote the Chennai Express Music launch which also had a live webcast on Youtube. Participants had to follow the handle, tweet with the hashtag and that’s it.

Forcing trends through Twitter is plain annoying. Imagine being tagged in a nondescript contest and being spammed on your timeline by friends with multiple RTs and following a brand twitter handle that spams contest tweets indiscriminately on your TL. The nature of these templatized contests/trends seems ad-hoc and generic. All of them appear the same.

IMO brands need to invest in creating a social media presence that pulls and stop resorting to slapdash tactics that do nothing for them.