“ a simple guide for numbnuts* who hashtag incorrectly ”
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History of the social hashtag
“ the # symbol, called a hashtag, is used to mark keywords or topics in a tweet. It was created organically by twitter users as a way to categorise their messages. hashtags can occur anywhere in a tweet ”
“ the hashtags big break was in 2007, originally invented by Chris Messina adding tags to where he was tweeting from and what it was about but it wasn’t until the San Diego forest fire when the hashtags really took off. In 2013 facebook began to allow the use of the hashtag which is used in a similar way to twitter hashtags.”
how do you feel about using # (pound) for groups. As in #barcamp [msg]?
— Chris Messina™ (@chrismessina) August 23, 2007
Understanding The Hashtag
If you’ve been tweeting for a while or socialising on Facebook you’ve probably noticed hashtags, a word or combination of words with the # sign in front of it. If you’ve asked yourself what do they mean and how do they work - look no further.
Hashtags as previously mentioned, were invented as a way to organise Twitter conversations. Hashtags are simply keywords preceded by a hash symbol (#) that makes them both searchable and linkable on twitter.
Many people use hashtags to identify what’s going on at events, emergencies and for following breaking news. clicking on a hashtag in a tweet gives you a real time feed of all tweets using that hashtag.
Hashtags have also been adopted to tag and share everyday things for example #photography or #design if you are sharing something of interest, hashtag it so others searching that topic can find it!
Many television shows have embraced the hashtag revolution TV shows regularly appear in the Twitter trending topics during prime time. special events such as awards shows (#brits #oscars) and reality TV shows (#bigbrother #xfactor) are especially popular for live tweeting, becoming a trending topic could compel people to tune in.
Hashtag Rules
1: DON'T OVERUSE - use a maximum of two hashtags in your tweets or Facebook posts. If you use too many your followers will think you are spamming them.
2: KEEP THEM SHORT — tweets are restricted to 140 characters you don’t want a hashtag taking up 50% of the letters in your tweet, there is however no limit to facebook post length but keep them short to avoid annoying your fans/friends.
3: DEFINE YOUR TAG - in a tag directory such as tagdef.com, give your tag a meaning you can also search for the meaning of existing tags.
4: NO SPACES OR PUNCTUATION - make sure there are no spaces in the words preceding the hashtag or punctuation, as it will break the link.