In the words of Twitter themselves –“Twitter is without a doubt the best way to share and discover what is happening right now”. By far my favorite feature on Twitter (at the moment) is the classic #hashtag. They are certainly nothing new, but no less very valuable to you.
What are hashtags?
It is quite simply a mention in your tweets with a topic defined with a #. People can just click on the hashtag and follow the entire conversation. The most current example of this is the following Australian politics and the over turn of the oppositions leadership via the hashtag #spill last week. The most up to date information has been coming through Twitter.
Why use hashtags?
- Join a global conversation not in your usual tweet stream.
- Track an event eg. Footy match or global conference in real time.
- Gets you on the radar of a heap more tweets.
- Follow the latest in a particular news story.
- Grab the hottest info from your chosen industry or interest.
- Find new interesting tweeps.
- Attend an event you couldn’t otherwise make it too.
- Watch your favourite TV show with people all over the country while seeing their opinions and input live.
How do I use hashtags?
- Click on a hashtag that interests you and add your view by adding the hashtag in your tweet.
- Create a topic others may like to discuss or follow.
- If you are running an event, get your attendees to use the hashtag.
- Monitor global hashtag conversation here at http://www.hashtags.org/
Follow or invent one today. I would love to hear your most beloved use of the humble #hashtag below.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
I’m a frequent user of hashtags both to put a tweet into a particular category and also to join and contribute to ongoing conversations (like #20chat, #blogchat, #journchat, etc). The funny thing is that hashtags are becoming such a part of that online conversation that I’m seeing (and using!) them in emails, texts, and IMs to add context to ideas in those spaces as well. It doesn’t do anything for the “global conversation,” but it’s kind of a funny way of looking at something that’s clearly permeating our online communication!
As a newbie to this medium of communication I absolutely love the hashtag and the power that it puts in the hand of the individual or the individual organisation.
I enjoyed recently giving an insiders perspective at our end of year function #maddenmedal. Hopefully I was able to provide a little insight to followers of what was taking place live at our event whilst promoting it at the same time!
Thanks for your input Doniree, I really resonated with the whole hashtag in a text message. Thanks for your comment.
Steve, we have recently seen you out and about in the social networks with the AFLPA and you are certainly making an impact!Your #maddenmedal updates were insightful and gave the end user a real experience of what the event held. Great twitpics too! Thanks for taking the time to comment.
Thanks Natalie , there’s so much to comprehend on twitter, gradually getting my head around it! very informative and clear explanation , you should write more similar topics on “how to …” for twitter , i’ll definately be your number 1 fan