How to Use Hashtags With Twitter

Hashtags are a tool that you can use in Twitter to track twits, tweets, and anything 'twitable'. According to a Twitter wiki, "Hashtags are a community-driven convention for adding additional context and metadata to your tweets. They're like tags on Flickr, only added inline to your post. You create a hashtag simply by prefixing a word with a hash symbol: #hashtag."^[1] They were developed as a means of creating groupings within Twitter.

Steps

1...In order to track hashtags more effectively, follow @hashtags. This allows them to be tracked more productively.

• Hashtags is part of Hashtags.org.
• They can also be tracked without following someone at Twemes.com.

 2...Start using hashtags in your tweets, preceding key words. The hashtags should have meaning to you.

• It can be helpful to do a little research first, to find out if the subject you're tweeting already has an established hashtag.
• Also, check Suggestions and Tips and Example Uses below for etiquette and general usage.

3...Finally, track other tweets on the subjects you're interested in (ie: those containing the appropriate hashtags) by browsing/searching at Hashtags.org or TwitterGroups. You can set it up with RSS feeds as well.
4...Learn about the stats resulting from tagging. You can do this with:

• Organize and display them through an RSS feed, making them available to everyone, including non-tweeters.
• Use the developing Twitter search engine.
• Tags have their own webpage through hashtags.org. For example #followfriday

5...Know that you don't have to hashtag everything. Hashtag etiquette is still evolving, so let good social manners be your guide. It is a rare "tweet" that deserves a hashtag, so tag only those updates that you feel will add significant value to the conversation. One hashtag is best — two are permissable — but three hashtags seem to be the absolute maximum, and risk raising the ire of the community. Tag sparingly, and with careful discretion.

Video