The Infamous #Hashtag - Tech Hottips

The Infamous #Hashtag

On November 6th, In Twitter, by Kim Wood

#LondonOlympics. #CheeseCurds.

Have you seen the # symbol in front of words and wondered what on earth that pound sign is doing there? It all started on Twitter … but has recently migrated to other typed conversations as well.

The “#,” also known as the “hashtag,” is used to categorize a topic of conversation. On Twitter, the hashtag is used to group conversations and often is used at conferences and gatherings both on and offline. When using Twitter, you can click directly on the #hashtag and see the recent tweets that have the #hashtag in the conversation. This is very handy when you would like to be on top of tweets from a conference or gathering. Most of the time, event-goers are informed of the agreed-upon #hashtag that will be used for the event. For those of you 2012 WRA Convention attendees, you might remember seeing “#WRAConv2012.”

Beyond Twitter, other networks use the #hashtag and allow users to find a topic by clicking on the #hashtag. You’ll also see people using the #hashtag in their text messages or on networks where the #hashtag isn’t clickable.

Now you know what that pound sign is doing before a word or abbreviation! By the way, don’t get hung up on grammar — some people will even run words together without spaces in a phrase, like #mlsphotofail!

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via techhottips.com