#hashtag

Hashtags in today's online culture relate to trying to organize discussions. When you're talking about using hashtags (#), it is a way to keep discussions sorted. What I decided to do is offer this blog post as kind of a resource for my not-so-inclined online audience. I hope you find my post interesting and helpful. Of course, I try to make sure all of my published content is of some value. This one being no different.

--- Hashtags at a Glance ---

Let's set the mood with a random picture.


^ from: www.neboagency.com - Use your hashtags wisely and properly to keep the conversation going smoothly.

At its most basic, the use of hashtags in online material is to properly sort certain messages. Think of hashtags like sorting mail or E-Mail. You know... you have your regular mail followed by all the spam mail and stuff. Anyone can talk about any subject. When it comes to keeping conversations relevant, however, you need to use hashtags in your discussions to keep everything relevant and stick to certain topics. For example, you may talk about how great a basketball game was last night, but the way to feel you're part of the conversation is to use a certain hashtag to contribute to a conversation. Otherwise (and not to be rude), you're just babbling.

Hashtags help keep conversations flowing and help sort things out. Unique hashtags help in trying to search through loads of text and messages online. It used to be that the use of hashtags was only restricted to Twitter. Afterwards, other social media started adopting the use of hashtags. This helps to organize and sort conversations. When my blog posts are fed online, I use certain hashtags to let people know about my latest blog posts.

Hashtag Tips.

How do you use hashtags properly? Here are things I've basically learned:

• hashtags can be of any length.

• hashtags consist only of letters and numbers. No punctuation, special characters (for example: "ñ") or other symbols are used.

• hashtags are usually all one word. However, you can use an underscore as space for a hashtag.

One thing to be wary of is for services such as Twitter, you may need to adjust your messages so that you don't overstep the 140 character limit. You can use multiple hashtags for a lot of different messages on social media, but you have to be careful on some services not to use too many characters. What some people even do is populate certain posts with all kinds of hashtags for the most visibility in searches.

You sometimes want to find the most popular hashtags so your relevant comments don't go astray. In these situations, try to search online for a certain topic. Try to find a common or similar hashtag you can use to increase the chances of your comments being within the main conversation. For example, you may be discussing the 24 Hours of Le Mans and need to find a proper hashtag. You could use "#24HoursofLeMans", but the most common one may be "#24HofLeMans" or "#LeMans24H." Just remember to include a certain hashtag to help the chances of it being read by others and even be included in search results.


This gives you a general idea on hashtags.

--- Hashtag Examples ---

Some hashtags are common and popular. What can they be used for? Any number of purposes. Here are some examples...

Hashtags in Online Contests.

Even different features and contests ask people to use certain hashtags to discuss topics across social media. An example would be for people to use a hashtag to share pictures and videos. People may be asked to share pictures by posting pictures online and forward them to a certain online profile while also using a certain hashtag. This is a sample with a generic handle and a generic hashtag:

"@SomeGirlGroup I love Katrina because she's a great singer and a sexy woman. #SGGContest

There are a few things to note here. If you fail to include the handle to send the message to, you just basically sent out a random message online that doesn't go to the certain target. If you fail to include the hashtag, the message goes through to the target, but you fail to contribute properly to the conversation. If you fail to include both the target handle and the hashtag material, you simply just posted something that doesn't get to the target and isn't part of the conversation.

Hashtags in Current Events.

These days, there have been certain hashtags used in discussing news events. One of the most popular hashtags these days related to police beating Eric Garner to death. One of the last things Erica Garner said during the beating was, "I can't breathe." So among the online community, the hashtag "#ICantBreathe" became popular.

The use of hashtags in certain current events help contribute to these events and in keeping conversation on them flowing.

Hashtags in Status Updates and Posts.

You can use hashtags in various forms of social media. Some hashtags can contribute to certain popular trends or certain events. Here are some examples:

#PrayForSara
#ComeHomeSafely
#ILoveHouston
#MentionSomeoneBeautiful

Some hashtags can be comical. Here are examples of comical hashtags (words have uppercases to see entire words):

#DontJudgeMe
#IGetMines
#GirlsRule
#GetMeOutofHere
#JustSaying

Hashtags are sometimes shorthand, as you can see with these examples (words in parentheses are what the proper term is supposed to be):

#AintTrynaHearDat (Ain't trying to hear that)
#AznGrlProbs (Asian girl problems)
#SxyNIKnowIt (Sexy and I know it)
#DonBHatin (Don't be hatin'! or Don't be hating!)
#IWouldDateUIf (I would date you if...)

And sometimes, some hashtags can be pretty stupid. Once on Twitter, one of the most trending hashtags on Twitter at one time was "IfIWereWhite" or something like that. And I'm thinking to myself... wow.

Popular Hashtags.

There are a few common hashtags that I want to make mention of. Here are a few examples:

#ff = Follow/Favorite Friday - every Friday on Twitter, mentions are made to favorite profiles on Twitter. I send several of these Tweets on Friday.

#wcw = Woman Crush Wednesday - females honor certain other females on Wednesdays. Kind of like "man-crushes," only this is the feminine version.

#tbt = Throwback Thursday - people share moments from their past on Thursdays.


There are many more common hashtags, but that concludes the bulk of using hashtags and of examples of hashtags.

--- Hashtags: Final Thoughts ---

I actually think hashtags are a great way to keep discussions relevant and sorted. Otherwise, conversations and comments would be spread far apart with no real unity. It is acceptable to say that hashtags are only for Twitter. However, even social media outside of Twitter can suffer from scattered discussions. The only real problems with hashtags is in making sure you use the right ones

Just So You Know...

If you Follow me online, I use certain hashtags for my blogs so you know where I posted my material at. Here are the hashtags I use for my content (click on the links to visit my other blogs):

#JohnsBlogSpace = John's Blog Space (the blog you're reading now)
#JohnsCS = John's Creative Space
#JohnsRaceSpace = John's Race Space
#SSbyJBM = StyleSpace, by John B. Marine


This way, you can conversate regarding my blogs.





I hope this helped. I been wanting to release this topic for a while but never completed it until now. Thank you for reading!

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