hashtaggin - can an youngen tell me what this does?

hashtaggin - can an youngen tell me what this does?

Author
Discussion

Atomic12C

Original Poster:

5,180 posts

216 months

Friday 20th July 2018
quotequote all
Although I'm in my late 30's I think I'm getting old and out of touch with the yoofs of today wink

So - hashtagging - what does this do when one reads typical mish-mash sentence creations these days that are made up of such things?

I've tried to read a couple of web pages about it and there are mentions of "campaigns" and "groups" and things, but instead do they simply mean "topic" ?
As in a "topic of discussion" - so like a thread title you'd see on pistonheads for example?
(if so , how can that be a "campaign" ?)

I also read its related to twitter. Now I've never had nor want a twitter account - I have no idea of the purpose of twitter - but I am guessing it's like the facebook "wall" ?

Anyways, why are the TV media using hashtags, why do people think that hashtags mean anything outside of twitter?

(Happy to be corrected on any of the above - feel free to flame me for not being with the times !)

rossub

4,400 posts

189 months

Friday 20th July 2018
quotequote all
Anyone using hashtags is a vacuous airhead or a bell-end.... in many cases they are both.

feef

5,206 posts

182 months

Friday 20th July 2018
quotequote all
Hashtags have been adopted by various flavours of social media including Insta, facebook and Snapchat. It's really just a way of identifying a topic or theme relevant to the subject. It's easier to follow a topic, especially when it's something that's trending or breaking news, by following a hashtag rather than individuals.

The Ferret

1,145 posts

159 months

Friday 20th July 2018
quotequote all
rossub said:
Anyone using hashtags is a vacuous airhead or a bell-end.... in many cases they are both.

End of thread, this is the only thing you need to know.

TonyRPH

12,963 posts

167 months

Friday 20th July 2018
quotequote all
The Ferret said:

End of thread, this is the only thing you need to know.
I sure you meant #endofthread

Surely?

ApOrbital

9,939 posts

117 months

Friday 20th July 2018
quotequote all
  1. Shirley.

Puggit

48,354 posts

247 months

Friday 20th July 2018
quotequote all
feef said:
Hashtags have been adopted by various flavours of social media including Insta, facebook and Snapchat. It's really just a way of identifying a topic or theme relevant to the subject. It's easier to follow a topic, especially when it's something that's trending or breaking news, by following a hashtag rather than individuals.
This is a good description - using Twitter to follow an event using hashtags.

cbmotorsport

3,065 posts

117 months

Friday 20th July 2018
quotequote all
If you add a # to a post or picture it will be come up everytime someone clicks or searches that hashtag.

Its great for events and suchlike, you can have the hashtag #yourevent or #worldcup2022 or something like that, and if people use it it collates all the posts and pictures that incorporate it on the various social media platforms.


feef

5,206 posts

182 months

Friday 20th July 2018
quotequote all
The 'campaign' reference is usually more to get groups of individual users behind a specific topic. Might be a campaign to raise awareness like #metoo and the idea is that the increased visibility and incidence of this tag on people's social media feeds will highlight the common theme and thus awareness.

It needs large scale adoption for it to work to the point it becomes visible and a 'trending' topic/hashtag, but it can work. The trick is to get the exposure you need but also to choose a hashtag that's both relevant and unique. Choosing #watersports for your boat company's marketing splurge may get additional unexpected content for example

Doofus

25,732 posts

172 months

Friday 20th July 2018
quotequote all
But who decides on what the hashtags should be? If I tweeted something and used a hashtag I made up, then a) how do I know that somebody else isn't already using it for something different, and b)how does anyone else know that I've just started a topis they light want to follow?

If I want to see all the world's tweets about making honey, how do I know what hashtags to search for?

If somebody uses a hashtag, say +loadofoldrubbish, and I have something very important to say on the subject, what's to stop me misspelling the hashtag and my incredibly insightful and erudite musings disappearing into the ether?

feef

5,206 posts

182 months

Friday 20th July 2018
quotequote all
Doofus said:
But who decides on what the hashtags should be? If I tweeted something and used a hashtag I made up, then a) how do I know that somebody else isn't already using it for something different, and b)how does anyone else know that I've just started a topis they light want to follow?

If I want to see all the world's tweets about making honey, how do I know what hashtags to search for?

If somebody uses a hashtag, say +loadofoldrubbish, and I have something very important to say on the subject, what's to stop me misspelling the hashtag and my incredibly insightful and erudite musings disappearing into the ether?
Just make it up, but you'd do a bit of digging first and search for likely candidates to see if they've been used, and if so, is it so common that it's likely to be a threat.

Then you start posting using that hashtag and encourage others who are interested in the same topic to do so as well, in the hope that it will grow. You can also identify existing hashtags that may be relevant and add them to your post to try and piggyback on the popularity of those topics



To find existing tags, just search for what would be obvious. Start off with #honey and see what comes up. It's no different to identifying keywords for an ad campaign. What's relevant, and what are people searching for?



Edited by feef on Friday 20th July 13:57

Doofus

25,732 posts

172 months

Friday 20th July 2018
quotequote all
feef said:
Just make it up, but you'd do a bit of digging first and search for likely candidates to see if they've been used, and if so, is it so common that it's likely to be a threat.

Then you start posting using that hashtag and encourage others who are interested in the same topic to do so as well, in the hope that it will grow. You can also identify existing hashtags that may be relevant and add them to your post to try and piggyback on the popularity of those topics
Sounds like a lot of work... I think I'll just keep using my Doofus Shouts Into The Void thread on here whenever I have an uncontrollable urge to say something that doesn't need an intelligent reply.

feef

5,206 posts

182 months

Friday 20th July 2018
quotequote all
Doofus said:
feef said:
Just make it up, but you'd do a bit of digging first and search for likely candidates to see if they've been used, and if so, is it so common that it's likely to be a threat.

Then you start posting using that hashtag and encourage others who are interested in the same topic to do so as well, in the hope that it will grow. You can also identify existing hashtags that may be relevant and add them to your post to try and piggyback on the popularity of those topics
Sounds like a lot of work... I think I'll just keep using my Doofus Shouts Into The Void thread on here whenever I have an uncontrollable urge to say something that doesn't need an intelligent reply.
If you're using hashtags as part of a marketing strategy, it certainly is. If you're hashtagging as part of a personal post, then just choose words that reflect your post and emotions.
/#yellingintothevoid appears to be quite common:
https://twitter.com/search?q=%23yellingintothevoid...


ETA : oh, and for the OP... this youngun is 44 :P

Edited by feef on Friday 20th July 14:02

Doofus

25,732 posts

172 months

Friday 20th July 2018
quotequote all
feef said:
If you're hashtagging as part of a personal post, then just choose words that reflect your post and emotions.
/#yellingintothevoid appears to be quite common:
https://twitter.com/search?q=%23yellingintothevoid...
You see, i don't understand why you'd hashtag personal posts. You presumably already have followers, who lap up everythgin you post, and anyone who doesn't follow you is surely not going to be interested in #mumsbirthday or whatever.

Ikemi

8,438 posts

204 months

Friday 20th July 2018
quotequote all
As above - Hashtags are used to link posts/pictures to specific topics, which in turn allows users to search for posts/pictures relating to said topics.

Example - If you took a photo of a Ferrari 599, you may add #ferrari #ferrari599 #599 to your post. If someone searched for '#ferrari', your picture may appear, albeit with plenty of other Ferrari based/tagged photos. If you searched for '#599', your post may appear, but you'd also see anything else tagged with '#599', which may not be car related whatsoever ...

smile

feef

5,206 posts

182 months

Friday 20th July 2018
quotequote all
Doofus said:
feef said:
If you're hashtagging as part of a personal post, then just choose words that reflect your post and emotions.
/#yellingintothevoid appears to be quite common:
https://twitter.com/search?q=%23yellingintothevoid...
You see, i don't understand why you'd hashtag personal posts. You presumably already have followers, who lap up everythgin you post, and anyone who doesn't follow you is surely not going to be interested in #mumsbirthday or whatever.
I think it all relates to wanting your message seen by a wider audience. At it's deepest and most philosophical end, I suppose a hashtag might mean that you come into contact with someone else in a similar situation whom you otherwise would never have encountered. At the other end, it's just me-me-me attention whoring and doing something that's cool for the sake of it because everyone else is doing it. It really depends on the topic.

A hashtag of #hadshreddiesforbrekafast is going to be pretty pointless.
Someone posting that they have been been diagnosed with a #braintumour could mean contact from many others who could help and inform way beyond the reach of your friends and followers

Ikemi

8,438 posts

204 months

Friday 20th July 2018
quotequote all
feef said:
A hashtag of #hadshreddiesforbrekafast is going to be pretty pointless.
Especially as you did not spell the intended hashtag correctly! hehe

feef

5,206 posts

182 months

Friday 20th July 2018
quotequote all
Ikemi said:
feef said:
A hashtag of #hadshreddiesforbrekafast is going to be pretty pointless.
Especially as you did not spell the intended hashtag correctly! hehe
hoist by my own petard biggrin

But that also makes a very valid point in itself biggrin

Shakermaker

11,317 posts

99 months

Friday 20th July 2018
quotequote all
Doofus said:
You see, i don't understand why you'd hashtag personal posts. You presumably already have followers, who lap up everythgin you post, and anyone who doesn't follow you is surely not going to be interested in #mumsbirthday or whatever.
Not worth it if you lock all your posts down to be private to only your own followers - but most on Twitter do not do that, nor on Instagram

However, the net result is loads of people who don't realise this, and think they have to make up a hashtag exactly like you have said - to the benefit of precisely nobody.


Ikemi

8,438 posts

204 months

Friday 20th July 2018
quotequote all
feef said:
Ikemi said:
feef said:
A hashtag of #hadshreddiesforbrekafast is going to be pretty pointless.
Especially as you did not spell the intended hashtag correctly! hehe
hoist by my own petard biggrin

But that also makes a very valid point in itself biggrin
Absolutely! smile