twitter hashtag icon

Wondering what all of those # symbols are, floating around?

They are called hashtags.

Although they are used for different things in the geeky world of code, they are now most often used to notate (or “tag”) keywords or topics within Twitter. (i.e. if you use Twitter and put the # symbol in front of a word within a Tweet, it will create a link) Clicking on these links will display other Tweets that have been tagged with the same word. This method was created originally by Twitter users as a way to categorize messages. Pretty cool in that users within the Twitterverse control the categorization, organically. You can tag any word you want. #itsreallyfriggincool! =)

Note: Many folks in the world use tools (like Tweetdeck) which submits messages to multiple social networks simultaneously, besides just Twitter.

Below is a list of some common hashtags used on Twitter.com.

  • #TGIF: Thanks Good Is Friday. This is used to say anything on Friday.
  • #WTF: Why the Face? Ha! (from #modernfamily)
  • #FOLLOWFRIDAY or #FF This is about following other people in Twitter. You may suggest yourself to be followed, suggest others to follow and just say who you just added to you list of followers.
  • #UNFOLLOWFRIDAY: This is about removing from the list of followers. You may suggest people to be unfollowed or just mention who you removed from your list of following.
  • #READATHON: It is a Marathon of Book Readers, an event held annually. See details in 24 Hours Dewey’s Read-A-Thon.

Try following the frequency use of the hashtags in https://hashtags.org/

Hope that helps dispel the mystery of the hashtag.

And hey, why don’t you ping me out on Twitter right now? C’mon, I’ll create an awesome (but completely useless) hashtag just for you.

Cheers,
//D