The Wayback Machine - https://web.archive.org/web/20121122152133/http://www.webuser.co.uk/news/top-stories/492646/justin-bieber-fans-beat-twitter-block

Justin Bieber fans beat Twitter 'block'

Justin Bieber has praised his fans for the way they have reacted to his name being apparently blocked on Twitter and says he is "honored[sic]" to be excluded from the micro-blogging site's trending topics.

Posting on his verified profile on Friday, Justin Bieber tweeted: "So they block me from trending...im actually honored...not even mad...but then i get on and see yet again my fans are unstoppable! luv yall!"

Yet Twitter denied that Justin Bieber, or any topic at all, is ever blocked from trending topics.

Fans of the Canadian superstar have been tweeting using the term 'Diustin Biber' - a play on the pop singer's name - to try and bypass the supposed block using similar or related terms.

But the lack of Justin Bieber isn't due to it being specifically blocked, it is a result of the site's updated algorithm, as announced in May.

On its official blog at the time, Twitter wrote: "Twitter is about what is happening right now, and we have recently updated our trending topics algorithm to reflect this. The new algorithm identifies topics that are immediately popular, rather than topics that have been popular for a while or on a daily basis, to help people discover the "most breaking" news stories from across the world."

"It is important to note that this new algorithm does not "block" any topics from trending."

The micro-blogging site suggests that if regular topics have disappeared, members can do a saved search on their homepage and will be able to see any Tweets relating to that topic straight away.

Blog: Justin Bieber: What the internet giveth, can the internet taketh away?

A Justin Bieber blocking tool was launched on the Firefox browser in May called Shaved Bieber which blacked out any mention of the singer's name anywhere on the web.

Justin Bieber's popularity has been exploited by hackers and scammers recently after his YouTube videos were hacked with links to adult or porn sites and links claiming he had died in a car crash were poisoned with malware.

Earlier this week security experts warned Facebook members about a group that promised Justin Bieber's phone number but instead directed them to survey sites.

Justin Bieber fans are coming up with different ways to get the pop star into Twitter trending topics after he claimed his name was being blocked.
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