Tips the Tuna

A term used in place of, “gaining in popularity” or “attaining critical mass”. The term is an antonym of “jumping the shark” (a term for something that has outlived its initial popularity or usefulness).

Have you tried that new service from Google. It tips the tuna. Unlike IQC, which no one uses.

by XJONX1 October 20, 2008

tipped the tuna

Started peaking in popularity.

Oddly, this phrase itself tipped the tuna when used in reference to the socal networking service Twitter

A commonly cited source is this blog post by Ross Mayfield

"On Wednesday, Twitter tipped the tuna."

by JamesGreen November 2, 2007