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Monday, June 25, 2012

Twitter Explained: What is a Hashtag?

If you are new to Twitter, there are probably a number of words that you don’t yet understand. One of the more common Twitter-related words that many people initially find confusing is “hashtag”. So, just what is a hashtag? Continue reading to find out.

A hashtag is any word preceded by the “#” sign in a Twitter message. These words, which are automatically turned into links when submitting a Tweet, are used to connect commonly themed messages across the Twitter network.

Hashtags can be used in a variety of ways. Sometimes they are used to connect messages about a certain website, like #facebook or #google; other times they are used to connect messages about specific cities, like #chicago or #london; while other times they can be used to link specific ideas, like #icantgoadaywithout and #wheneverimbored. It doesn’t matter what you are connecting, so long as it is a series of characters preceded by the “#” sign, then it is a hashtag.

Clicking on any Twitter hashtag will bring up the latest messages that have been sent containing that particular hashtag. This can be a great way to follow a current theme or topic that is of interest to you.

There are many words describing Twitter features and it takes a little research to understand the meaning of each one. Thankfully, once you have a better understanding of the words, you can better utilize all of what Twitter has to offer – including hashtags.

For more helpful thoughts and ideas about Twitter, see Aaron S. Robertson's blog post entitled, Twitter for Skeptics.

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