To get the full benefits of Zulip's topic model, when starting a new
conversation, you should start a new topic!

Starting a topic is like a lighter weight version of giving your email a subject.
Topic names should be brief but specific, for example:

* **Good topic names:** "question about topics", "welcome Anna Smith!", "issue #1234"
* **Not so good topic names:** "question", "hi", "help", "this topic is about
a question I have about topics"

Don't stress about making it perfect! The first 2-3 words that
come to mind are probably fine, and you can always [change it
later](/help/rename-a-topic).

With time, there will be lots of topics in your organization, which is just how
it's supposed to be. Zulip's UI is designed to make it easy to see what's new
(in your [inbox](/help/inbox), [recent
conversations](/help/recent-conversations), and the [left
sidebar](/help/left-sidebar)), while still helping you
[find](/help/search-for-messages) prior discussions.
