The hash tag.

Um, what is it?

Most folks on Twitter aren’t using hash tags, but really, they are so easy, everyone should be! Hash tags are a symbol (#) followed by a name that will broadcast to a set group of people. Right now, there’s a group for #uksnow, #jobfeedr, #gaza. Check out www.hashtags.org, the official site that creates, organizes, and displays these groups for more examples of what’s happening on Twitter right now.

1. Learn common hash tag commands. These are those that are used most often, so keep these handy:

• Follow #tag – (example: follow #uksnow) – lets me follow all updates tagged with #uksnow.
  
• Follow username#tag – subscribe to all updates from a certain person that are sent to a
  group. (Example: Follow travelrants#uksnow will give me every post by that user sent to the #uksnow group)
  
• #tag message – Send a message or question to the group. (Example: #uksnow Anyone have the latest report on train service into London?)
  
• #tag !message – Send a message only to people who are subscribed to updates from #tag.
  (Example: #uksnow !How much snow did you get on Tuesday?)
  
• Leave #tag – Unsubscribe from the group. If my friends are subscribed to this group as well, I’ll still get messages from them that include updates for the group. (Example: leave #uksnow will unsubscribe me from the uksnow group, but I’ll still get messages from my boss whenever he sends a message to #uksnow).
  
• Remove #tag – Unsubscribe from the group and from friend messages that include this tag. So if my boss posts an update to #uksnow and I’ve typed Remove #uksnow in my Twitter status bar, I won’t see that message even if my boss is on my followers list.

2. Use hash tags when you’re following/follower list is getting overwhelming to keep in touch with everyone. I’m having issues with this now (over 2,600 followers and almost 3,000 that I follow). Recently, I decided to look into attending SXSW Interactive 2009 and so I figured out the hash tag for it (#sxsw09) and subscribed to keep up with all the chatter as we approach the event. Plus, anything I say about the event, I can apply the hash tag and it will be seen by everyone else who plans to attend. This helps streamline my communication to get to the right people who will want to read it and appreciate it.

3. Hash tags help the Twitter universe organize the masses of information. Twitter is huge and growing every day. Hash tags help quell the mess and put things into proper categories. Soon, every tweet should have its own hash tag. That way, information is searchable. We want people to read what we write, right?