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Hashtags on twitter

One of the potential mysteries when you’re new on twitter is what do all the # tags mean.

What are they… and how do you know what to use?

Essentially, they’re simply keywords preceded by a hashtag (also called the pound sign or symbol) And they really help to group and organize conversation by topic. I’ve noticed that they also seem to help create a ‘buzz’ about a topic or event.

Let me explain by giving you an example…

At the moment I’m writing this post, I just heard (via twitter) that there was a plane crash in Denver (plane from Houston was landing and slid off the runway) and I’ll bet… if people are as people are… that if this is BIG news, within the next hour people will be tweeting about #denvercrash. That would be a very good thing because it would allow anyone interested to go to any of a variety of sites, search for the conversations where people are using #denvercrash in their tweet… which, because of the viral nature of twitter, is probably going to include some of the people with cell phones who just survived that crash. They are quickly able to update their friends and family!

Note- I just ‘made up’ that (common sense) keyword and put the hashtag in front of it. I sent out a tweet for a link to a good news source… and before I finished typing this sentence I’ve already received a tweet (with a link to a good news source right out of Denver) back… that was in less than a minute!

That particular hashtag may, or may not take off and be used by others on twitter. And if I go to:

http://Twitag.com

http://hashtags.org

http://search.twitter.com (or http://summize.com)

http://twemes.com

And type in denvercrash or #denvercrash these sites will bring up every tweet that includes #denvercrash (note: summize.com aka search.twitter.com is my favorite search site for finding trending topics and you can enter any term you want… the tweets will come up with or without the # and if you’re going to use hashtags.org you have to be following @hashtags)

Conceiving a twitter hashtag is something you just decide, you make it up… and assign it to the event or topic. So while the twitter hashtag that I made up may not catch on… someone’s WILL.

Sometimes the hashtag is self expanatory… like #denvercrash lets you know immediately that there was some kind of newsworthy crash in Denver… but was it a plane crash… phenomenal car crash… the specifics aren’t clear. But if you go to one of the sites listed above and do a search on the twitter hashtag you will usually get up to speed quite quickly.

It becomes a bit more challenging when you see a twitter hashtag made up of acronym’s like #TCR. (Which, by the way, stands for a Friday night show at http://twitcastradio.com ). I can promise you that if you don’t get the gist of what’s going on by searching the tweets for the twitter hashtag… just put out a tweet that includes it, ask what it’s about and you will receive a response quickly. Because if people are excited enough to tag their tweet, they’re excited about the topic or event!

From what I hear the whole idea of twitter hashtags started in 2007 during the San Diego forest fires when Nate Ritter used the hashtag “#sandiegofire” to identify his updates related to the disaster.

With so many people, including children, carrying cell phones consider the use of a family twitter hashtag codeword in case of emergencies or urgencies… perhaps for designating a request that everybody meet at a certain place.

They’re also powerful when people are attending events, conferences, meetups, etc. You can quickly search for what people are saying about it… and you’re also going to learn who is saying what, which can be helpful in getting connected with people you’d like to connect with.

Hashtag etiquette on twitter is still evolving. Realize that they are best used sparingly. That said, if you’re going to an event, online OR offline, you might want to toss out a twitter hashtag to get connected and ramp up some interest.

Remember… on twitter we’re limited to 140 characters so brief is best. That also explains the frequent use of acronyms – so if next week you plan to host the WILD and WACKY WEBINAR promote your event as #WWW by letting people know that’s the hashtag you’ve assigned to next weeks event and they can start spreading the news.

Hope this helps… any questions just ask.
A great list of sites for more information can be found at: http://twitter.pbwiki.com/Hashtags

tweet on!

Oh… and follow me at http://twitter.com/marykw

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