Hash-Tagging it up on Twitter
I thought I'd write a little bit about hashtags. I use them in Twitter and sometimes I think more people should. I also think some people abuse them but I guess you have to take the good with the bad in this case.
Are you wondering, What's a hashtag?
A hashtag is a word that is preceded by a #and signifies additional context to the tweet.
It can be used almost in anyway you want. Sometimes it is used formally, for example to tag the conversation about a specific talk in a conference. Other times, people use it loosely to describe stuff about their tweet. It could be emotion, location, sometimes even the completion of a thought or the type of tweet --a poll in this case.
I try to use them with a purpose
Occasionally I'll play around with hashtags and tag certain tweets to designate something about them where I might want to share later. I use them as reminders. At least that has been the intention but I never really did anything with them until now. I found a way to use them, once in a while, I'll highlight the tags in my blog. They'll serve as idea launchers for bigger blog posts.
Also...
This will also serve as my own FollowFrliday spinoff. I think followfriday sucks now, nobody really follows anybody. I've paid attention, neither the followers I recommend, nor the ones other people recommend. It's a waste of time for everyone. I didn't feel like this just a little while ago but I'm convinced now. I have my theories of why this is but that's topic for another day. A targeted introduction works much better if you really think someone should follow another. For other cases where I want to share a tweep with everyone, I'll post it here in my blog. There's a couple below.
The Tags
Here are the tags I've used ((Technically, some of them come from re-tweets, but you are still my reader in twitter so I'm explaining them for you anyway. Whomever coined it may have a different meaning for it than I've interpreted)) in the past, in case you wonder what they meant. Perhaps this solves the metadata question about hashtags.
#itjustgetsbetterandbetter You can obviously see why, but who? Prosper.com has been the leading P2P platform since its launch. I'm happy to be a lending member and glad to hear good news when they come by. It is good to hear they got additional funding.
#LegacyAlwaysTrumphsCurrency. I like it because it reminds me of the long term. Its better to focus on the client experience, in their satisfaction and happiness so they become loyal. Do what you need to show you care. Coined by Gary V. or a follower.
#empireavenue. I'm an active member of Empire Avenue, and I'm loving it. Its a cool idea and one that should take off like crazy. You can invest in other people, think of it as the Internet's stock exchange. Oh yeah, and if you're a social media fan like I am, you should join it and come invest in others, or at least in Me. You know you want to, who wouldn't want to hold shares of the OG. Yes, that's my ticker.
#TOM. I've used to shorten, TheOnlineMom, a great tweep and blogger I follow regularly.
#shikdorak. One of my favorite restaurants in town. Delicious #koreanbbq. If you go there and don't like it, you didn't try the right stuff. You need to tweet me up about this when you're ready to chow down in some delicious grilled goodness.
#onceithitsyourlipsitssogood I had a really good beer, and felt like hashtagging this one, cuz that's how I roll when I have a good beer.
The big one is #fb, people ask me what is #fb? It's actually a special tag that tells an application to post that tweet over at my FaceBook wall. This is useful when you wan to share the same thing to your facebook friends and your twitter followers. Please use this sparingly, I don't want to read the same thing in your facebook wall as I do on your twitter all the time. I use it mainly because most of my friends from facebook are not on twitter; so if I want to let them know of something quickly from twitter, this is how I do it.
#theyarenotsynonymous This is a big one, and it deserves a whole blogpost of its own. My complaint here is against the clumping of Sci-Fi and Fantasy. Please stop doing this. I beg you, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, internet retailers and people at large. They do not mean the same thing. Science Fiction, I think is like the fiction of science, where something is at least plausible at some logical. Sci-fi inspires people to come up with the stuff we see in sci-fi movies. Fantasy in the other hand, is something completely made up and unreal, like dragons and a ring that makes you all powerful.
Twitter's not the only one hash-tagging it up either. #coversthatdontsuck actually came from Blip.fm One of my new favorite social networks. It allows me to share songs out to Twitter and or Facebook, tumblr, Ping.fm, livejournal, friendfeed. Mainly I share one song or two a day, only when I start listening to blip or when I find a really good song. In Blip.fm, you play as a DJ, trying to get people to listen to your stuff and see if you're good at picking songs and growing your audience. In no other network I've tried does the infamous "those that want more followers and those that lie" by @guykawasaki apply as it does here. You want more followers, period. And in turn, you follow a lot so you can get really good mix of music.
Other Tags
These are tags I will be using more often now.
#empireavenue #EAv
#vark
#blip
That's it for now, Obviously I'm on Twitter and yes I'd like you to follow me. I have good stuff to share and its only going to get better in the next month or so. I check out every person that mentions me or follows me. I have a complex mechanism to see who my new followers are so I promise I will check you out. I also have a bunch of list which I'll be developing into something very useful for all my followers, so stay tuned, and follow me.
