Why I Should Have Tried The Hash: A Twitter Hashtag How To & Why Not | Search, Monitor, #Tag

Why I Should Have Tried The Hash

Today, the twitter hashtag thunderbolt finally hit me.

thunderbolt_hash

I mean, I understand “what” it is, and yet I’ve never really used it for my own purposes. All of that has changed as of today…

Feeling a dash whimsical when I woke up this morning, I had a single factoid in my head that I wanted to share. So I went online to confirm it before sending it out. That’s when I found a site with a whole slew of interesting and related factoids. It was right then that the window of opportunity opened and I tweeted right through it:

And so it began. A series of posts that I created virtually by accident.

d10teco

And when I had finished, I thought, well, would you just look at that – a series. Haven’t done that before. Then another idea: I could do “a series” every now and again and make it that day’s “10 TopicalTweets.” I can choose a topic that I have questions or thoughts about and then tweet them into a series – all of this doable in five minutes or less (for those already thinking “I don’t have time for that”). I realize the use of the hashtag and/or posting in a series is not revolutionary to the twitterverse, but it was a shazam moment for me, personally. And that’s revolution enough to make me happy. (It doesn’t take much these days.)

And then it hit me:

WHY didn’t I think of using a hash mark to tag those tweets?

If I had put a #D10T within each of those individual posts to reference my Day’s 10 TopicalTweets, the following page would have been full of my eco-factoids, available for easy reference and search. [One more time for the business tweeps out there: easy reference and search. As in, apply the hashtag whenever you post on twitter about your business, products, brand, etc. Tags can also be used to follow discussions, tweet events, seminars and breaking news in real time (live) and more.]

But instead, my “search page” for #D10T looks like this:

Well. I now see how the twitter hashtag can work for me (and my business). And for all those who have ever asked, “What does that hash mark mean?” I’m happy to share my thunderbolt of a moment here for posterity.

So when you see me post a series of tweets with the following tag:you’ll know I have a Day’s 10 TopicalTweets going out that you can view in all their glory, if you are so inclined, by using the twitter search engine, any time – well, any time except today, of course – and typing in #D10T (or whatever other hashtag you might be interested in looking into) where it says “this hashtag” as shown below.

This is one of the things I love most about twitter.

I learn something new every day.

#Literally.

If you’d like to follow me on twitter, you can find me @usegraymatter.

Tags: Hashtags, How To, TwitterSmart

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 17th, 2009 at 11:55 pm and is filed under Small Business, TwitterSmart. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

13 Responses to “Why I Should Have Tried The Hash”

Charity Hisle Says:
February 18th, 2009 at 8:18 am
We all learn something new on Twitter every day! I really enjoyed your blog post! I’m glad you didn’t let the naysayers keep you from blogging about what you want to blog about!
invoker Says:
February 18th, 2009 at 6:04 pm
You should schedule them using hootsuite.com
Marianna Says:
February 18th, 2009 at 10:07 pm
Through you, I’ve just learned something new, too!

Was wondering how to make use of those hash tags.

Thanks for the great explanation.

@AuntieStress
The Honeymoon Period Is Over « “Community Funded Reporting” Says:
February 24th, 2009 at 4:17 pm
[...] a Twitter hashtag for submitting stories. This will also allow people to monitor stories using an RSS [...]
Diane Cline Says:
March 3rd, 2009 at 6:07 pm
This was such a great post. I found out about hashtags when going to conferences for live-tweeting – examples #fem2pt0 and #vizthink09 . They help to keep Twitter sub communities tied together (see my experiments #NSA for those interested in privacy issues and #ABD for advanced graduate students). You can also create live tweet chats easily by using hashtags. Say, oh, you want to watch American Idol with other fans. Announce the time (9pm) in advance with agreed upon #AI, then go to tweetchat.com, enter the “room” with #AI, and you can see everyone’s posts and respond. It’s a blast! During the stimulus package hearings there was a hilarious round of “#stimpaksexytalk” (check it out). I always love reading the GrayMatter Minute. Thank you.
Anine Grumbles Says:
March 4th, 2009 at 9:19 am
Thanks for updating my lingo – for several decades I’ve called the hashtag #, number sign. We never stop learning. It keeps us young.
minutemaker Says:
March 4th, 2009 at 9:26 am
LOL! Hashtag, pound sign, number sign…it’s all good. But even better when used effectively as a search tool on twitter!
Thx for your comment and for the laugh.
Why I Should Have Tried The Hash — hibilog - Around the World Says:
March 9th, 2009 at 10:29 pm
[...] is, and yet I’ve never really used it for my own purposes. All of that has changed as of today…read more | digg story タグ: att ie [...]
blagues Says:
March 29th, 2009 at 5:17 pm
excellent article, thank you
Oliv Says:
April 16th, 2009 at 5:01 am
Je ne suis pas encore tombé amoureux de twitter, çà va peut-être changer du coup
Renee Lemley Says:
April 16th, 2009 at 11:20 am
Oliv,
Il parait qu’il y a pas mal de vent en France, peut-etre bientot le vent du changement… Surtout faites-moi signe quand vous tombez amoureux de twitter, je serais heureuse d’en savoir plus.

Let me know if I can be of any help. You can find me on twitter at http://www.twitter.com/usegraymatter

-Renée
Petey Says:
September 24th, 2009 at 1:35 pm
You do realise #D10T looks like IDIOT?

It’s one thing to have quick and easy references, it’s another to inadvertantly humiliate yourself. Just a thought!
Renee Lemley Says:
September 24th, 2009 at 2:40 pm
Well, how about that. Nope…didn’t see it that way, Petey. Nor do I feel the least bit humiliated.
But I will tell you that earlier this year, I left a comment on a prominent blogger’s blog that was not as polite as it could have been.
Now THAT was humiliating.
Learned a valuable lesson there about the importance of common courtesy online. Even wrote a post about it.
Just because it’s easy to insult someone (intentionally or inadvertently) behind the anonymity of a computer screen, doesn’t mean it’s the smartest thing to do.
Thanks for your observation, mate.
Best regards,
-Renee