[Re-print from 2009]

Hashtags are a useful tool that help you to organize and share your tweets with others. Just like adding keywords to a Flickr photo, hashtags allow you to group tweets together with others sharing the same tag. The result being topics of interest that are easier to follow.

The use of hashtags evolved during the 2007 San Diego forest fires when #sandiegofire was used to identify updates relating to the disaster.

The hashtag #iranelection and Twitter recently played a crucial role in disseminating information in the ongoing controversy over the disputed Iran elections. Twitter has been so critical for communication in Iran that they rescheduled maintenance to occur in the middle of the night in Iran even though this meant Twitter was be offline during peak hours in the US.

However hashtags are not all political. Companies are using hashtags as a way to promote events and product launches in context, and also as a communication tool for remote employees to stay on top of relevant information.

Hashtags can also be used to share notes. For instance, conference goers can use a common tag so that all notes can be easily grouped together and reviewed by those present and absent.

Hashtag etiquette is still evolving so be sure to tag with discretion. How To Use Hashtags:

1. Follow @hashtags on Twitter. They will follow you back automatically, and your hashtags will be tracked.
2. Use hashtags to precede key words in your tweets. Be sure to check Hashtags.org to see if your topic already has an established hashtag.
3. Track the tagged conversations that interest you. Topics can be found via the search.twitter.com feature.

Valid hashtags are also indexed at Hashtags.org, organized by tag, and available as individual RSS feeds. Meaning the conversation can be accessed even without a Twitter account.

This article provided by Brave Media Internet Marketing Vancouver

Related articles by Zemanta

• A browsable, searchable archive of tweets (stopdesign.com)
• Twitter releases top trending topics for 2009 (vator.tv)
• Mommy, where do hashtags come from? (robcottingham.ca)
• How To Effectively Use Twitter Hashtags (makeuseof.com)