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What are Twitter Hashtags?

Written by Lynette

Alright, so I am not a social media guru but I’ve had this question asked of me enough. Whenever you’re on Twitter, sometimes you will see people tweet with code like #mm or #gnu or something like that. These are called hashtags and they are a way of tagging a tweet so that people can track a conversation. Parties and events are becoming very popular on Twitter and people usually use these hashtags when replying to or participating in the event.

If you’d like to read about all the conversation related to that event, you’d go to http://search.twitter.com enter the hasthtag in the search box and it’ll bring up what everyone is saying. Here’s an example of the chatter about the inauguration.

This is great for many things:

  • Good way to find a conversation you can jump in to. There are no rules about it. Anyone can tweet, attach the hashtag and be part of the conversation.
  • A good way to find out what everyone is saying about one topic
  • A fantastic way to find out what other topics people are talking about in real time
  • Great way to find stuff to blog about
  • Fun way to find people to follow

Another site you can go look at the chat trends is hashtags.org. Unfortunately their site is not very reliable and often you’ll find it down or takes forever to load.

Category : Blogging For Business
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  • Lynette
    @Ms. Liz, I use Tweetdeck too and yes it is very handy isn't it? What you are talking about is the search feature. That's a super way to keep up with any topic that is keyword based. I watch several keywords on Tweetdeck like that too ;-)

    However hashtags are a combination of both the tag and the search feature of Twitter/Tweetdeck or whatever Twitter search tool you use. Whenever anyone uses a hashtag for example for Mom Masterminds, our hashtag is #mm

    If enough people enter #mm each time I use Tweetdeck to search for #mm (not a keyword), it will pull those that are related to that conversation and it's usually about Mom Masterminds. If you only search for the keyword "Mom Masterminds" you will only get part of the conversation and it may not be relevant. Hope that explains the difference between keyword search and hashtag search better.

    Also, searching is one thing but sometimes you want to be part of the conversation so let's say you want to respond to me about something I wrote with the #mm tag. All you need to do is reply and add the #mm hashtag. Not only will I see it but so does everyone who is watching the conversation. Since you're using Tweetdeck you'll be happy to know this is done automatically so you don't have to type so much :)

    @Kim, @Vicky - happy to help

    @Piet, I hope my further explanation here has helped you further understand this. The easiest way I can tell you is this. Let's say all of us attend an event and I tell all of you to wear a florescent green t-shirt - this is the hashtag

    When we go to the event, the lobby is very busy. So I tell the manager to please page all who are wearing a florescent green t-shirt to meet in front of the restaurant. All those who wear this t-shirt will then gather in front of the restaurant and you can chat with each other easier (compared to shouting across the room).

    Anyone who wants to 'attend' this event only have to wear the same t-shirt and if they want to leave the event, they just change your shirt :)
  • I had been wondering about this myself so it is good to finally find out.
    Thanks

    Vicky
  • kim
    Thanks for the explanation; this helps out a new twitter user like me!
  • Hey Lynette, thanks for that update. I use Tweetdeck as my Twitter interface, if you like tools -- it's a good one.

    Anyway, Tweetdeck offers a similar way to find this type of information.

    At the top of Tweetdeck there is a toolbar and if you go to the 'twitter search' icon it will bring up a window where you can type what you specifically want to know about, so if you want to know about 'Freddie Mac' let's say , you simply type that in. What this does is create a new tweetdeck window with all that's going on about 'Freddie Mac'. It does essentially what the hashmark does.

    Anyway, it's another option. Liz :-)
  • I stil am not sure how to use this tag. Pse tell me.
  • RT @lynettechandler Hashtags? This post may helphttp://tinyurl.com/d9ukdf Use it!
  • @JasonSilvestri # represents 'hash tags' on Twitter. This will help you to understand http://bit.ly/siYCr
  • Do you use #hashtags. Example #LIG (Life is good) Check this out RT http://bit.ly/siYCr
  • @BonnieRN a decent explanation of hastags - http://is.gd/io5X
  • RT @johnwlittle Thank you John! johnwlittle @BonnieRN a decent explanation of hastags - http://is.gd/io5X (the # thingy you see on Twitter)
  • @BonnieRN a decent explanation of hashtags - http://is.gd/io5X
  • @JasonBradbury Nice simple explanation here.. http://tinyurl.com/d9ukdf
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