Hashtags: from Twitter to Facebook

Tweeters have been organising their thoughts using hashtags for years. Now Mark Zuckerberg wants to bring them to his social networking site.

Age: First used on Twitter in August, 2007. So five and a half.

Appearance: #likethis

And what exactly is a hashtag? Anything preceded by a #.

As in? As in #nothelpful.

That's not helpful. Yes, exactly. #smug

Can we stay on topic please? Sure. #hashtags

Right. So what are hashtags for? Everything and anything. They contextualise, categorise and colour. They annotate and amuse, unite and undermine. #alliteration

But mostly? Mostly they are a way of filing tweets by topic, enabling Twitter users to find everything that anyone anywhere has tweeted about any given subject. #everyopinionever #tedious

So they're just a Twitter thing? Not just a Twitter thing, no. They first appeared in online chat rooms before the microblogging site even existed, and have since made their way on to several other major social networking sites, including Pinterest, Instagram and Google+. They also tend to pop up on adverts and in TV shows. #pleasetweetaboutourproduct

And what are they doing now? Invading Facebook. According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg's team plan to introduce the hashtag as a way of grouping users' conversations. #reportedly

Why? As part of its battle with Twitter to become the best "personalised newspaper" in the world. Or, put another way: because they can and there's nothing Twitter can do to stop them. #socialnetworkwar

So how should us Facebook users prepare for this invasion? You might want to brush up on your hashtag skills. #hashtagpractice

#I think I get it. You don't. #spacesareover

#Don't I? Nope. A hashtag should be all one word. So that should have been #ithinkigetit. Which, as you may have spotted, is a bit of a jumbled mess.

#sowhatdoidowheniwanttosaysomethingreallylong? Don't use a hashtag. Or, if you must, use capitals to make it easier to read. #LikeThis

#DoesThatReallyHelp? Yep, see? It also averts PR disasters of the kind that struck Susan Boyle's album launch party last year. #susanalbumparty

#embarrassinghashtags? #perfect

Do say: "How did we ever live without them?"

Don't say: "#ItWasActuallyFine"


/The Guardian/