Aware of Twitter #Hashtags ?

As you start to use Twitter more and more, you may well notice the use of the #hashtag symbol appearing. A post on Twitter that includes a # before a group of letters or a word. A perfect example for #hashtag being used is #followfriday. Before getting into what is #followfriday, lets see what is the #hashtag used for ?



So What is the #hashtag used for ?
By placing the # symbol before a word, phrase, or abbreviation, it creates a mini-search engine phrase that can be looked up and followed on Twitter.

Now What is #followfriday ?
Every Friday on Twitter, you will see thousands of people sending out tweets that have the term #followfriday in the tweet. So what exactly is followfriday ? why should you join in ?



Followfriday was started by Micah Baldwin and It works on the idea that people on Twitter may not be sure who to follow. So what better way to find excellent people to follow on Twitter.

So every friday, the idea is that you think about who you are following on Twitter, that you would like to introduce to others. These may because they are providing excellent information, they are funny, interesting, amusing, or whatever you want..

So How Do I Join In?

It is very simple to join in.. All you need to do is to make sure that somewhere within the tweet that you send out, you add the term - #followfriday, and the name of the person that you are recommending.

So for example….. #followfriday: @dangerdiabolick because he provides good tech tips.

Now like #followfriday you can also create your unique #hashtag. There are no rules regarding #hashtags, but there is a common sense approach to take. Don’t tweet every message including a #hashtag symbol. Keep them for specific events, meetings, etc.. for eg: #F1,#facebook,#Iran Election etc. You then simply add that into your tweet.

Publicise everywhere you can, that you are using a certain #hashtag, and remind people to use it whenever appropriate when tweeting about the event, conference, meeting, topic etc…



If you’re new the best way to learn is to take action, so my suggestion is to jump right in. For eg, every Friday you’ll see people using the hashtag #followfriday. Observe them and start clicking the #hashtags you ll be redirected to Twitter search page where you’ll see every Tweet that also uses this hash tag. From there you can find out what the hashtag is being used for, who is using it, and in most cases links to where you can get more information.

This is for people who are using twitter as a main stream tool to be active on social media, they need to keep track of things in real-time.

If your not getting enough information on how to use them just watch this video made by Social networking expert Mari Smith.

Twitter Hashtags What Are They,How To Create Your Own - Link

In your twitter search you can find trending topics, what is that ?



when large volume of people are all tweeting about the same topic, whilst often utilising the #symbol for that event..

So Some Useful Resources :

1. Hashtags.org -
Hashtags.org has an excellent directory, of all the #hashtag symbols being used and they also provide graphs and hour-by-hour information on top hashtags.

2. What the Trend -
Find out what’s trending on Twitter and why. For each trend, they give you a quick explanation of WHY it’s trending.

What the trend - Link

3. Twitter search - Link

Follow me on twitter - @dangerdiabolick

Sources helpful - Mark shaw (Twitter expert & Consultant)

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