Merry Christmas has been trending on Twitter for several hours, but it's August 31, forcing many to ask why?
There actually seems to be a combination of reasons fueling the Merry Christmas trend, which has seen a few spikes today and just keeps going, according to Google Realtime:
The trend seems to have started as simply spam. Thousands of links were being posted to Twitter with "Merry Christmas" to apparently get people's attention. Some of these links may be harmful to your computer, so be careful.
In the Philippines, the 'Ber' months were welcomed (September, October, November, December) as the calendar flips from August, and it is tradition to begin a Christmas countdown at that time, leading to more tweets.
From there, thousands have been asking why is Merry Christmas trending and posting theories, only solidifying its status as a trending topic and giving it another boost.
Among those adding fuel to the fire were popular accounts, such as @Brian_GriffinFG, who tweeted, "Twitter: The only place where people celebrate Christmas in August. Merry Christmas everyone." And @funnyordie, "Merry Christmas is trending because people keep asking why Merry Christmas is trending because people keep asking why Mer... #viciouscycle"
The very active Justin Bieber community on Twitter has also contributed thousands of Merry Christmas tweets and retweets of their own. There may be no stopping it now!
Hat tip to @malcolli for the heads up on the Philippines tradition.