Yet More Twitter Gems

Posted by TeamCharlie on January 30, 2009 under Gabe's Twitter Gems, Social Media, Twitter | Be the First to Comment

Can someone please stop me from blogging about Twitter?  (Actually that sounds like a great idea for a new blog. ) Anyway I digress.  I thought I would stop at 10 Twitter gems just because that is a good number.  Then I discovered something else – the “hashtag”.

Twitter Gem #11 – Use the Hash Tag

Since I’m slow it took me a bit to understand what the hash tag on Twitter is all about until someone explained it to me (thanks @kmartone).  You will notice many tweets that include the number or pound sign (#) followed by an acronym of some sort somewhere in the tweet.  That is called a “hash tag”.  It serves a very simple but useful purpose on Twitter. It allows everyone to see a “conversation” about the same subject regardless of whom you follow.  If you click Search (located at the bottom of your Twitter page) and search for the hash tag you will find all tweets related to that subject.  Makes sense, right?  Well if you have an idea to start a conversation like this, how do you know if the hash tag hasn’t been used for something else?  Or how can you see a list of hash tags in use?  The list of hash tags can be found at http://hashtags.org .  You can also see if the tag you want to use is available there through their search engine.  So, say you’ve found that the hash tag you want to use is available, what next?  Simple. Follow @hashtags and then use your tag.  @hashtags will follow you back automatically and index your tag.

Ok now that we know how hash tags work, let’s discover how they can really benefit us.  Last Friday I had maybe 80 some followers on my KidsAreHeroes identity and had been creeping up on a daily basis very slowly.  I received maybe 2 new followers a day.  All of a sudden I discovered that I was getting all these followers.  I thought it was because of my wonderful tweets, or because I followed a few “big-hitters” on the advice of a friend.  Again, I am slow so it took a few days for me to discover that someone had included me in their #followfriday list.  (Thanks @DaveWebb!)  If you include this hash tag along with “tweople” that you like to follow, it will be seen by everyone who searches this list. I made it well over 100 that day and was pleasantly surprised.  (I sure hope someone puts @KidsAreHeroes and @MM4Animals on their #followfriday list today. Hmmm…;)  You can also “flatter” someone by putting them on your list.  I recommend doing this every week.

The other way to add benefit is to participate in the conversations.  There were a couple going around yesterday, one was #IMHO and the other #WhoAmI.  For the first, you simply gave a random opinion on something with the hashtag embedded in the tweet.  The latter tag urged you to explain a bit more about yourself.  I participated in both conversations and plan on doing more.  This way you get more exposure than you normally would, plus it supports the person who started the conversation. However I will only join in the ones that reach out to me.  This way my tweets won’t be bland and contrived.

Last blog I promised I would send something from a more experienced tweeter.  Not wanting to disappoint I have found some interesting tidbits on http://www.twitip.com

Update: March 7th – Defining and Learning Definitions of  Hash Tags

What if you create a hash tag and you want other people to know its definition? Or what if you simply want to know the meaning of a hash tag?  At the time of this writing this information did not appear on the hashtags.org web site. However, there is a way to do this.  There is an entity on twitter called @tagalus. You can tweet to both define and request information about hash tags.  To define a hash tag, simply tweet: “@tagalus define <hashtag> as <description>.” Example: “@tagalus define #kah as anything Kids Are Heroes related.”  To get the meaning of a hash tag it’s even simpler. Just tweet: “@tagalus define <hashtag>” I tested this and received a prompt reply.

Update: December 11, 2009 As you know this is an older post and some of it is a bit outdated. Although @tagulus and hashtags.org, the important stuff, are still valid.  I must admit I do not use hash tags that much, other than #followfriday, even to this day.  The other night I bucked that trend by creating a search column in Tweetdeck using the hash tag #topchef.  This is related to the TV show, “Top Chef Las Vegas”, in which a local chef was vying for the top prize.  This column had comments from everyone who was watching the show and tweeting simultaneously — even Bryan himself who eventually took second place.  Anyway this was fun, but be warned that you are seeing “unfiltered” results.  When you do a search like this you will see tweets from everyone regardless of whether you follow them or not.  I have a thing about profanity and/or vulgarity in a public forum and I was treated to a few unsavory gems. 

You can get new followers this way.  If someone who is doing the same thing sees your tweet and enjoys it, they may follow you.  I think this is a personality thing for me. I may try it again but do not typically use Twitter this way.

Enjoy!