The Advantages And Disadvantages Of Using Twitter Hashtags
Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that was originally launched in March of 2006 and has since grown into a real-time short messaging service that works over multiple networks and devices. Twitter enables users to stay in touch and share information with each other in real time. Users can use a maximum of 140 characters per message or “tweet” as they are called. You can tweet as little or as often as you want, as long as each individual tweet does not exceed 140 characters.
Once you have joined Twitter, you can use their search tool to find specific people, companies, and their tweets. Hashtags are an effective method of allowing users to sort topics into useful categories to revisit later. Hashtags are a community-driven convention for users to provide add additional context and other relevant info to their tweets. The basic structure of a hashtag is simple: it’s the pound sign (#) followed by an acronym or word.
Twitter didn’t itself create hashtags; they were borrowed from IRCs (i.e. Internet Relay Channels such as chat rooms). Rather, the Twitter community adopted them as a means of creating “groupings” on the service without having to alter the basic service itself.
The Twitter community uses a hashtag in front of frequently used terms in order to categorize them for searches and filtering. So, when talking about an iPod for example, people might also reference “#Apple.” If you’re looking for company specific news that’s happened recently or what’s being said about a company’s product, the hashtags can be very helpful.
Using hashtags to search Twitter for specific information is now even easier since the company purchased the search engine Summize in July of 2008. Twitter can now track hashtags itself at search.twitter.com. The engine tracks keywords too, which makes hashtags not quite as necessary for trend tracking as they were in the past. Nonetheless, they still possess unique advantages. For example, you know that anyone tagging their tweet with one of these acronyms means for it to get categorized within that topic. It also serves as a visual indicator to others following their Twitter stream that they’re tweeting about a particular subject.
One of the potential disadvantages of hashtags is their very popularity. Hashtags are so prevalent on Twitter these days that it can be hard to keep track of them all as well as what they mean. However, there is a resource available that can assist with this as well. Tagalus is a service that acts like a dictionary for hashtags. Tagalus enables users vote on definitions for tags if there’s more than one version. The definition with the most votes will be the one that defines the tag. If you invent any new tags or just want to help build the resource, you can send a tweet to @tagalus to suggest a meaning for a tag. The format for doing so is as follows:
@tagalus define mynewtag as a new tag that describes everything about me
You can also use Tagalus to provide you with a meaning for an already existing tag. The format for this is @tagalus define ____ (fill in the tag that you want the definition for).
————————
Cory Threlfall is the Editor and Publisher of a online web development publication called… The Web Development Central BLOG, where you’ll receive via the Web, Mobile or RSS syndication Expert Articles, Video’s, Product Reviews, HOT Tips, Resources and More on how to Promote and Build your business(es) online. Visit ==> http://www.corythrelfall.com
Related Posts - Getting Mass Followers on Twitter Well times they are a changing again. With the boom of popularity with social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook it is more important then ever that as SEO professionals we learn how to use these tools to market our products or websites. Today we are......
- Following the top SEO proffesionals on Twitter Up until a few months back I protested joining both Facebook and Twitter because of my old school thoughts that I only use the internet for work and social networks are a glorified chat room that I wanted no part of. Well after enough pressure from different people including my......
- Google Launches Commerce Search - What is it? First of all I want to say that my feeling on this is this is yet another way google will have control of what we do online. Of course these are my own thoughts and I could be wrong. Either way I am going to provide information on......
- Ethical SEO Firms: What are They? Ethical SEO Firms: What are They? The question for most people who are looking for an SEO firm are the same: will they get me to the top of the rankings in search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing? While that is a great question to ask, there are......
- Over optimization and No Follow tags in Google Many people ask the question "can I over optimize my site for google and is there a such thing as to many no follow tags?' The answer is best explained in the video from Matt Cutts below. As you will see in the video there is no such thing......
Related Websites - How To Use Search Engine Optimization to Destroy Your Competition in 3 Easy Steps Search Engine Optimization - Secrets Revealed.Let's begin: What is 'competition'? Competition is described as "one that competes", "a rival", "selling or buying goods or sevices...
- twitter Search Engine Roundup A Real Time Vertical Corral of archeological nomenclature Recently many have been referring to twitter as a search engine. While twitter can indeed be searched,...
- Twitter Hashtag Introduction If you are looking to increase your awareness on Twitter, one of the best things that you can do is to explore the capabilities of...
- Major Advantages of Hosted PBX Systems Choosing a hosted PBX service provides advantages in several areas where traditional PBX phone systems are weakest. Hosted PBX delivers PBX functionality as a service,...
- Search Engine Marketing – Exclusive Services Get your site exposed. Are you ruining your own campaign? Selling is not something to be forgotten when delving into an online business. Promoting is...
Categories: 