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Understanding Hashtag: The 5 W's and How?

Who created hashtag? In August 2007, Chris Messina’s a twitter users and a social technology expert created the first hashtag as a way to group information. (Doctor Vanessa). In his first hashtag, Messina says: how do you feel about using # (pound) for groups. As in #barcamp [msg]? (See image One).  Perhaps every word with the hash in front means is connected to a link.
What is Hashtag? “Hashtag (#) is the hash character number sign in front of a combination of words added to a tweet and creating to track categories, groups, or topics. “Others can use to search for info using the Twitter Search feature. (Donna Ghunter).


 When to use Hashtags? Similar to Google, hashtags can be used for a search on a topic. For example when a new movie coming up, a hashtag should be designed immediately to provide necessary info such as trailers, actors, and date.  “One of the most common uses of the hashtag is to tweet what's happening at an event or conference. The event organizer will request all attendees use a specific hashtag, i.e. #yourevent when tweeting about the event to your followers. So, then, someone who isn't present at the event but wants to follow what's happening there can simply search for #yourevent and see what's going on and what participants are saying and sharing about the event.” (Donna Ghunter).

Where to use Hashtag? Besides Twitter, Hashtags is currently supported by many social media platforms including Facebook, Instagram, Google +, Tumblr, and Pinterest.

Why use Hashtag?  Originally, Messina created hashtag because twitter is set up to tweet no more than 14 words. (Twitter official page). So using a hashtag, has provided information on a specific topic or group of people. It is one the most efficient tool to promote an event, campaign and engage conversations online (chats) and within a group. Is about putting a few words together related to the topic that can be easily remembered and founded using Social media platforms.

What? Some Hashtags such as American Idol’s vote #idol; Dancing with the Start’s  # DWTS, became viral because they were successfully used by people to catch-up and stay updated on everything in regard to these shows. These movements show  when  to use it and the advantages of using hashtags for everyone especially professionals marketers and PR. That also means Twitter hashtag is a powerful tool.
 In relation to that Adam Pratter says, “Twitter users to tag tweets to give more context to them. They can also be used as a way to designate the tweet to particular conversation or chat.”(Pratter, 2013).   That said, connected people should be using hashtags to organize, groups different topic, to handle conversation and most importantly to share the maximum information on social media.

How to create a hashtag? The first step is to understand the above reasons for hashtags; the second step is to understand the nature or category of your topic. The third step is to select the exact keywords that are related to your topic. The fourth step is to check with Hashtags.org to know if your selected words were already used, or not. Note that you may change your keywords to avoid confusion and similarity. Once you finally selected your keywords, you can use hastags.org to add your new hashtag in the   hashtags dictionary. That helps eliminate others to use the same hashtag as you in the future. To complete your hashtags, you can create a link (or landing page) connected to all info or video in regard to your topic. At this point, your hashtag is ready to use, so you can also upload it to tweetLater.com for more traffic. Overall, creating a hashtag means hyperlink a combination of letters with the hash symbol in front connect to a landing page. Brian Solis (2013) calls it  “The Art of social Media- If you think about it as Action, Reactions, and Transactions.”(Solis. B, 2013). Put it together, hashtag gives us the ability of real-time engaging which allows us to communicate better online. For another way on how to create Hashtag, you can visit Donna Gunter.

References:
Gunter. D. 6 Steps to creating Viral Marketing Campaign with Twitter Hashtags. Retrieved from http://www.evancarmichael.com/Marketing/5243/6-Steps-to-Creating-a-Viral-Marketing-Campaign-with-Twitter-Hashtags.html
Doctor. V. (2013). Hangtag History: When and What Started It. Retrieved from. https://www.hashtags.org/featured/hashtag-history-when-and-what-started-it/
Prattler. A. (2013, October 22nd). How To Use Twitter Hashtags to Get Noticed.  Retrieved from http://www.socialmediatoday.com/content/how-use-twitter-hashtags-get-noticed
Solis. B. &  Elasser. J (2013, October 27). Conference Recap: Brian Solis On the Future of Public Relations. Retrieved from http://www.prsa.org/SearchResults/view/10397/105/Conference_Recap_Brian_Solis_On_the_Future_of_Publ#.VMVe_3DF8me
Twitter Official Page. Retrieved from https://twitter.com/

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