2009-07-28T11:34:52-07:00
category hashtag hashtags search tag
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2009-07-28T11:34:52-07:00
crystal
17868
What are hashtags (the "#" symbol)?
2009-11-19T17:13:01-08:00
<h1>Hashtags: a Twitter community creation</h1>
<p>Because Twitter provided no easy way to group tweets or add extra data, the Twitter community came up with their own way: hashtags. A hashtag is similar to other web tags- it helps add tweets to a category. Hashtags have the 'hash' or 'pound' symbol (<strong>#</strong>) preceding the tag, like so: #traffic, #followfriday, #hashtag. Hashtags can occur anywhere in the tweet: some people just add a # before a word they're using, like so:</p>
<p><img src="/attachments/1062804" border="0" alt="Twitter___Lisa_Shea__Got_bored_listening_to_tra_....jpg" /></p>
<p> </p>
<p>Other people use popular hashtags that already seem to have a set etiquette. For example, Haiku hashtags, ever popular, usually list the hashtags at the end, like so:</p>
<p><img src="/attachments/1062739" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; " border="0" alt="haiku_Qrystal__haiQ__on_Twitter.jpg" /></p>
<p>Although hashtags aren't an official feature Twitter provies, their popular usage is usually visible on <a href="http://search.twitter.com/">Twitter Search</a>, which usually has a hashtag term in trending topics:</p>
<p><img src="/attachments/1061567" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; " border="0" alt="Twitter_Search.jpg" /></p>
<p>Topics range from things as serious as #iranelection to light birthday wishes for Souljaboy- it just depends on what people who use hashtags are talking about!</p>
<p> </p>
<h1>Using hashtags</h1>
<p>If you add a hashtag to your tweet and you have a public account, anyone who does a search for that hashtag may find your tweet. Although any keyword with a # in front could be considered a hashtag, there are many commonly used hashtags. Aside from not using hashtags for spam purposes, there are no formal rules for hashtag usage. A few simple best practices we recommend include only using hashtags on tweets relevant to the topic, and not over-tagging a single tweet. (<a href="http://twitter.pbworks.com/Hashtags">This article</a>, with all the hashtag information you ever wanted to know, recommends using hashtags sparingly, and using one to three per tweet, at most.)</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<h1>Popular hashtag activity</h1>
<p>Take a look at the third party site, <strong style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "><a href="http://hashtags.org/">hashtag.org</a>, <span style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-weight: normal; ">to get an idea of popular hastags used on Twitter.</span></strong></p>
<p><img src="/attachments/1062713" border="0" alt="_hashtags_-_What_s_happening_right_now_on_twitter.jpg" /></p>
<p>Find out about trends, look at small, pretty graphs, and search to see if the hashtags of your fantasies exist.</p>
<p> </p>
<h1>Hashtags: a Twitter community creation</h1>
<p>Because Twitter provided no easy way to group tweets or add extra data, the Twitter community came up with their own way: hashtags. A hashtag is similar to other web tags- it helps add tweets to a category. Hashtags have the 'hash' or 'pound' symbol (<strong>#</strong>) preceding the tag, like so: #traffic, #followfriday, #hashtag. Hashtags can occur anywhere in the tweet: some people just add a # before a word they're using, like so:</p>
<p><img src="/attachments/1062804" border="0" alt="Twitter___Lisa_Shea__Got_bored_listening_to_tra_....jpg" /></p>
<p> </p>
<p>Other people use popular hashtags that already seem to have a set etiquette. For example, Haiku hashtags, ever popular, usually list the hashtags at the end, like so:</p>
<p><img src="/attachments/1062739" border="0" alt="haiku_Qrystal__haiQ__on_Twitter.jpg" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; " /></p>
<p>Although hashtags aren't an official feature Twitter provies, their popular usage is usually visible on <a href="http://search.twitter.com/">Twitter Search</a>, which usually has a hashtag term in trending topics:</p>
<p><img src="/attachments/1061567" border="0" alt="Twitter_Search.jpg" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; " /></p>
<p>Topics range from things as serious as #iranelection to light birthday wishes for Souljaboy- it just depends on what people who use hashtags are talking about!</p>
<p> </p>
<h1>Using hashtags</h1>
<p>If you add a hashtag to your tweet and you have a public account, anyone who does a search for that hashtag may find your tweet. Although any keyword with a # in front could be considered a hashtag, there are many commonly used hashtags. Aside from not using hashtags for spam purposes, there are no formal rules for hashtag usage. A few simple best practices we recommend include only using hashtags on tweets relevant to the topic, and not over-tagging a single tweet. (<a href="http://twitter.pbworks.com/Hashtags">This article</a>, with all the hashtag information you ever wanted to know, recommends using hashtags sparingly, and using one to three per tweet, at most.)</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<h1>Popular hashtag activity</h1>
<p>Take a look at the third party site, <strong style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "><a href="http://hashtags.org/">hashtag.org</a>, <span style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-weight: normal; ">to get an idea of popular hastags used on Twitter.</span></strong></p>
<p><img src="/attachments/1062713" border="0" alt="_hashtags_-_What_s_happening_right_now_on_twitter.jpg" /></p>
<p>Find out about trends, look at small, pretty graphs, and search to see if the hashtags of your fantasies exist.</p>
<p> </p>
2009-07-28T11:34:52-07:00
49309
10711
91640
2009-07-28T14:13:09-07:00
17868