Hashtags and Tracking Social Media

For me, Hashtag is really interesting and useful. You can track what others are talking about and join them, like #2010disappointments. You can also track the group of discussion easily. Just like, you can track #NMDL to see what the professor and classmates are discussing and get your questions answered soon. Sometimes it’s like a symbol or a label for a group of people; sometimes it’s like a trigger which can get more and more attention by more retweets; sometimes it’s like an organizer which helps you track the information interesting to you.

I personally don't use hashtags when I tweet but then again I don't really tweet all that often. I usually follow people or news organizations that I find interesting. When I do look at hashtags on occasion I find them to be interesting and helpful or not so much. Sometimes hashtagging things makes it easier to find the info you need immediately. Then again I also find that some people are hashtag crazy, which I guess if you like doing it then why not.

I think hashtags are great when they aren't overused. Hashtags are excellent for grouping similar thoughts, as well as adding a specific question or conclusion onto a tweet. However, #alotofthetimestheycangooverboard and it is hard to figure out the point of them, or what the various words are within the hashtag!

I was a late comer to the hashtag craze. Once you start using it, it's kind of addicting. I think this form of communication is another unique way to become recognized as a company. 

I think hashtag is not useful for me. When I click a hashtag, it shows me a lot of tweets which are use this hashtag, but there are few things really mathch what I want to find. However, I can't say the hashtag is very useless and bad, it still can find something are interesting, there are still many people like to use it to communicate with others who has the same interested. I never use any hashtag, but I think if I will use one, I gonna use #GoSpartan!

My friend actually set up my twitter for me a while ago without me knowing. i didnt start using it until like last year and i had no idea what a "hashtag" was, or how it worked. i rarely use hashtags in my tweets because i honestly dont see the point. I do understand for businesses how it can be a great way to communicate and/or group your topics, and I guess I can see how it can be useful for important things such as class and work (like how we use it for this class). But for personal use, it doesnt make sense to me. I will never understand why people hashtag the most useless words or phrases...

I personally don't use hashtag because I don't have a chance to use it, however, I do use hashtag for the company I work for. I think hashtag is a really good idea for categorizing all the reseult. For companies, except using some popular hashtag, they can also create their own hashtag. My favorite (or the one I use the most) hashtag is #FF (Follow Friday). Every Friday I will recommend 2 (or more) twitter account for my followers to follow, and sometimes I get #FF from others, too. 

I was a little late to the party on Twitter, but now that I've been on for about a year, I love it. I use Twitter much more proactively than I use Facebook, and I think that has a lot to do with hashtags. I think Twitter is great for instant results about what is going on in the world. Since information is not coming from just the people/organizations/whathaveyou that you follow (or are friends with in Facebook's case), you truly get the sense of democratization of information, and know that whatever is trending is something people are talking about at an incredible rate. A search for #schwartz five minutes after the Lion's game yesterday, yielded at least 200 tweets a second. That shows you the power that Twitter has, and it's insane capacity for timeliness.

The first time I came across Hastags, I was confused.  It was a while before I actually decided to join Twitter.  I always heard my friends talk the twitter language while joking around saying "pound(#)" this and that.  I joined Twitter in 2009.  Once I became aquainted, Hashtags were interesting and fun to use.  I think it was a good thing to put on twitter because it allows you to search different hashtags and see what people have to say about things that you inquire about.  It also allows you to see who relates to what you are saying and gives you insight and many topics.  At times for some hashtags it can be entertaining.

In ever really understood the whole hashtag obsession. I don't get what it means but it's all over the place. It's kind of like a fad thatni choose to ignore but now that I'm on twitter more than ever I see it all the time and am getting used to it. It has even caught on to people for their statuses on Facebook.

I joined Twitter in 2009,and have been usig #hashtags ever since then. Hashtags helps keep everything on a topic organized. Often now even for playoff baseball they will get you a hashtag to use on Twitter, and the network tracks the hashtag, and your tweet may make the broadcast. Hashtags are fun but can also be overused as some people might hashtag they're who sentence which often can be/look anoying. The top hashtags that I use are #Lions #Spartans and #Fail. I am a huge sports fans especially the Lions, and Spartans so I often voice my opinion on both teams using the hashtag. Then I use #fail a lot to describe when I forget to do something or if I do something stupid. Hashtags can be beneficial but also can be annoying when overused is my opinion.

I use hashtags every now and then, probably not as much as most people. I do think it is helpful because it does create groups of people with something in common. I do use the hashtag for some of the business accounts I run, and I think it's a great way to engage your followers as well as gain new followers. If someone searches a hashtag and sees your businesses page, that is a chance to gain another potential customer. Hashtags are also just generally fun and funny most of the time. They can go viral really easily, and it's interesting to see what one's are popping up. Lately because of football season, I have been using #Spartans quite often, it's a good way to connect with other MSU fans. 

I only just started using hashtags for twitter. It's funny because I have used twitter for many years and never discovered it until recently. Whenever my friends used hashtags, I never understood their intention and never tried to find out. Recently I started using hashtags and now I'm obsessed. It's interesting to know what others are tweeting and tagging that are similar to mine. My favorite hashtag that I use is #mlia (my life is average) because I like to see what others have to say (since it's typically funny). Almost every day something weirdly interesting happens to me so it's nice to tweet it out there and hopefully make someone's day a little more interesting by reading my tweet. I love the idea of hashtags and how it brings together strangers with similar interests or moments. It's a great way for businesses, companies and organizations to see what is trending with their products or brands helping them with their marketing strategies. It also allows them to communicate directly with people and see how they really feel and preceive a product or anything related to their company/organization. 

One thing I have noticed about hashtags is the number of people that use it. It's also like adding an extra expression to a person's tweet, giving it more personality. One of my particular friends constantly tweets either on her laptop, phone or itouch 24/7. Everytime she tweets, what follows is always a hashtag. Her hashtags tend to come out like the average hashtags most people use, but usually tends to be random hashtags that are super long and something she makes up on the spot. In the end, hashtags is like a legendary idea that has taken twitter by storm in many ways.

The Hashtag has come a long way since it birth in 2007. I was first introduced to it on Twitter only about a year ago.  As a seldom tweeter I saw the cleverness and uniqueness that it brought to the twitter website, but I never anticipated it to grow the way it has.  This past week, watching the Detroit Tigers play for a spot in the World Series, I was momentarily distracted by "#postseason" in the corner of my television screen that the television network FOX displayed the entire game. It was then that I knew this hashtag thing was serious.  The more I get acclamated with twitter this semester, more of a relationship I will form with the hashtag, but until then I will continue to think of it only as Twitters clever differentiation from other social networking sights.

I created my profile for twitter probably a year before I actually started using it, and to this day probably don't do Twitter any justice. I still only tweet every once in a while, I claim, because I don't have a smart phone to update it with. I remember being so confused when I first started seeing #hashtags for the first time from my friends on Facebook. Of course, they didn't ever serve their purpose on Facebook, except looking cool. I remember first thinking that #hashtags were just something you put in front of a word/phrase that was funny or cool. I never really knew that people used them for Twitter, and that they actually could be useful and fun. As I've started to tweet a little bit more recently I find it very entertaining. I've noticed that #hashtags have become even more popular in the media as of recent. Many times, ESPN shows tweets from celebrities as they follow their #hashtags. I've seen them become even more useful in following the recent NBA lockout. Many times NBA players use the #hashtags to vent or talk about possible agreements. I definitely like the feature and it helps me follow certain topics or talks. My favorite hashtag so far is #classic.

 

Actually, I’m not really big user of Twitter. Also, I didn’t really know about the “Hashtag” from twitter. I found hasgtag is that # symbol, called a hashtag, used to mark keywords or topic in a twitter. But it has negative part to use that hashtag use only on twitter relevant to the topic. I don’t have any hashtag in my profile. I will find the one soon.

I am not much of a hastagging user. But along the way I have developed the chance to check it out and its not that bad. It tends to bring out the the trend in social media within a group and allow others to keep up with what your thinking!

 

 

I believe #hashtagging is great.  Its just another way to share things with others that are similar and can relate.  It brings in the new trending aspect of social media.  I think we are always trying to find out what the new trends are and what most people are thinking about or doing and hashtags bring this new tool to life.  Personally, I don't look at hashtags as the most serious of ways to do this but I do like it because me and my friends usually try to use random and funny hashtags most of the time.  My favorite one to use is #aboveaverage for no apparent reason.

I think the idea of the hashtag is extremely creative. The history of it seems funny to me, as I thought it was just created as a part of twitter. I didn't realize that's how simply it came about. This idea has come so far in only four years! Looking at the link you included in your blog where he tweeted the idea of using the hashtag for groups, it's funny to see peoples comments below his tweet. People talk about how such a small idea led to a huge innovation and this is so true. It makes me wonder if I could just as easily create such a phenomenon? Ha. The hashtag is a great way to abbreviate messages in twitter as well as save space in your message because of the limited characters allowed. The craze has traveled as far as people now using hashtags on facebook almost in a joking matter. I still believe it was a great idea and I think there are many fun uses for the hashtag that helped to expand twitter and what you can do with it.

Hashtagging is not only an easy way to search for helpful information without having to sift through unrelated tweets, but it makes Twitter seem like a big conversation. By simply adding a certain hashtag to a tweet, you can add your 140-characters to the conversation and see what everyone else is saying. I like being able to track news stories and see what everyone else considers to be important. I love that you can use them to joke with your friends or the Twitter community as a whole. With the use of HootSuite on the rise, I've even noticed hashtags popping up on Facebook. Although they aren't functional, everyone knows where they originated and could ultimately drive more social media users to Twitter.

While hashtagging was originally used to categorize posts and follow what others are saying, they have now truly evolved into an ironic, funny addition at the end of posts.  People have even begun to hashtag statements on facebook, a forum that doesn't even support that sort of search.  While originally intended for use on Twitter, you can find hashtags all over the internet now - and I love it.  Many people (myself included) put creative, ironic, and sometimes very random hashtags at the end of the post.  I'm pretty positive that some of my friends view the hashtag as the "punchline" for a joke, or funny post.  But beyond that, I've found hashtags like #NMDL to be very helpful in hearing people's conversations about this class.  I also have done some #compassion hashtag searches to see what people are saying about the organization that I interned for this summer.  Hashtagging is a brilliant way to follow others' thoughts associated with phrases you're interested in, as well as a creative opportunity to express your own. 

I believe Hashtags can be used in various ways to enhance any online entry.  When they first started appearing, I understood them as the meaning behind the entire quote or statement, such as #thingsimiss.  One can immediately abbreviate the quote using that Hashtag, or simply realize that the entire quote revolves around that Hashtag.  Now, I think that Hashtags are used as a punchline to a joke in some cases and truly enhance the sentence, starting ongoing trends in your friends tweets or comments.  A couple of my favorite Hashtags are the following:  #theawkwardmomentwhen, #GoGreen, and #ineedaniphone.  In just four short years, the Hashtag has started a craze on social media. It's simplicity is the reason behind this, in my opinion; and, I cannot wait to see how it will progress in the future.

I agree that hashtags are a great way to communicate a message. They are very direct, to the point and fun to use. While many people enjoy creating their own hashtags with no relevance to a specific topic, I think it is cool to use them for a purpose. When companies donate money for the number of hashtags they recieve, they are raising awareness. This is a great way to incorporate social media into nonprofit work. I also think it is interesting to see what people on Twitter have to say about trending topics. The hashtag provides that opportunity. It allows you to see what others you might not know have to say about an issue. I believe that hashtags are one of the best parts of twitter.

i enjoy using hashtags and sometimes even find myself using them in text message conversations with friends. It gives a good way to present the overall theme of your tweet. I'll often try to make them something witty or ironic or if not just the broad message i'm trying to send with the tweet. I've also had a couple of classes where we use twitter as a way or responding to questions or getting our thoughts out there during class. My teacher would just have a program like tweet deck up on the projector screen and have the hashtag for the class searched and just watch what people are saying about the class. I think its a really cool way to keep the class involved and even get them to laugh at some funny things people post to make class a little more relaxed.

Hashtags are a great way to be creative, funny, or relate to "trending" events around the world.  I enjoy using hashtags as kind of a way to theme what I am tweeting.  I often use hashtags in a funny way, but I like to pay attention to what is trending on twitter.  This is another way that I can keep up on current events, because when I see a name or something I don't know I usually click on it to see what it is about.  This summer I was an intern at a company that is part of the efforts to rebuild the city of Detroit.  They made it a big point for me to tweet and get everyone to tweet the hashtag #DoItForDetroit so it becomes a trending topic.  I was happy when all of my friends started to use the hashtag and it has become a great phenomenon to get the organization's Detroit efforts out on the web.  #Ilovehashtagging  

Hashtags are a great innovation to enable grouping of conversations. They help tweeters talking about similar topics unite and join in conversation. Being a born and raised an all around Detroit sports fan my favorite tags include: #GoLions, #GoWings, and GoTigs. Using these hashtags allow other Detroit fans to see what Im saying  but more importantly if I need to quickly find out what is the latest chatter about the lions for example I can find that hashtag read up, and join in on the conversation. Hashtags are an excellent resource not just for sports news but for any individual interest. 

Like many students who enrolled for this class, I never had a twitter account. Being new to the Twitter world, i have begun to use hashtags in my tweeting. I was very hesitant at first because i didnt know if I was doing it right or even hashtagging the right tags. I must say it is great for consumers to follow business and firms in order to gain popularity. Also, after reading the text it is a great way to build and attract more of an audience with press releases. Also, there are so many hashtags that twitter will never be boring and people will always be able grouped to one another with ideas, emotions, expressions, and events.

Hashtags are one of my favorite things about Twitter. The beauty of a hashtag is that is forms pseudo groups that people can use to interact with each other. I find them to be extremely useful for getting answers to different questions as well. For example, I follow paleo and when I need to come up with a recipe or get thoughts on what others think of a product or ingrediant, I simply #paleo and immediately get answers to my questions from the thousands of paleo people like myself.

I also think that this is a great way to communicate for current events as well. #postseason (MLB playoffs), #lions (Detroit Lions), #occupywallstreet. All of these hashtags are incredibly useful for instanteonous discussion about an event that is happening right now.

I cannot say which hashtag is my favorite but the one that I use most is probably #blessed. Helps me stay humble.

I love hashtags! I use them pretty often, considering I don't tweet that often.

Its nice to use them for classes --that way I can communicate with classmates and see their thoughts on the readings before class.

My absolute favorite use of Hashtags if for the TV show Fringe. I love this show, but no one that I talk to in person likes it, and the show can get complicated. Also, this show isn't overly popular (it got moved to Friday nights on FOX (where shows go to die)). Anyway, an extensive online community has evolved using Twitter, and the hashtag #Fringe or #Fringe(episode number). Each week I follow the hashtags and can communicate with other people who enjoy the show--these people are hardcore fans. Mostly we tweet questions or certain elements that we may have missed in the show (its a sci-fi type show so there is a lot of far-fetched story lines). Also, the producers and some cast members will tweet along each week, answering questions and such. We have built quite an online community there and honestly its whats got the show renewed for a fourth season.

I believe the Hashtags is a good way for business users on Twitter. It build up very strong social connections for businesses. However, I was not a Twitter user until I joined this class. Normally I don't really tweet except for some important notifications via email. I believe there are a lot of people who treat their Twitter account just like what I am doing. I don't think this function is effective, at least for me. It would be more effective if there is some similar function on Facebook as long as it is the world largest social media. 

The use of hashtags on Twitter is not something I do very often. This is not because I do not think it's a decent way to connect. In fact, I think it helps build connections and networks. I believe it to be an interesting concept and if they are used correcty, an really great way to track interests and familiar postings. It's clever to follow a certain hashtag like you are subscribing to something so that you always can track what is going on with a certain subject.  I do not have a favorite hashtag because I only use one 25% of the time I tweet. I have recently started to follow certain hashtags though. While many people are not really sure what is up with the hashtag, it's interesting that the use is leaking into facebook and text messaging as well. It could be a worthwhile idea to make the #hashtag a universal thing.

Since I joined Twitter only for this class, I haven't heard of hashtags until the first day of class. I have played around on Twitter with them and have liked the results. I am still getting used to the site and all of its' benefits. Now that I have been introduced to hashtags they seem to be popping up everywhere, or I now understand what they are so my interest is peaked. I still have some questions about hashtagging that I will have to explore to really get the concept but I can see how they are a growing search option among Twitter members. It's all about the keywords and hashtags bring that to Twitter.

Although I have had a twitter account for almost two years, I barely use twitter. I never really understood the concept of hashtagging. Therefore, I do not have a favorite hashtag. I recently have discovered the advantages of using hashtags for business purposes. One way that hashtags could be beneficially would be with creating a trending topic. If enough people in an area hashtag a particular thing, then it becomes a trending topic which would be helpful in search engine optimization which would ultimately attract more traffic to a particular site.

 

I have used twitter for 2 years now, but I have never heard of Hashtag before. So I googled it after reading this blog, and then came to realize it was kind of a way to search faster on the keyword that I want to look for, and a way to categorize in twitter.
I liked how this "hashtag" works, as what others have said, it is very useful for twitter users since it directly gives all results of the word that you hashtag.
I tried to used it for the first time, and what I ahve hashtag was the word #michiganstate #korea. I could see people twittering about the words that I have typed. Hashtag is pretty interesting!

Before this class, I never knew about a HashTag because I am not a twitter user. However, I can understand how HashTag is being used and affects way to communicate with others. Also, it is a great way to categorize tweets. If you just type the topic that you are interested in, you can share your ideas and see people’s opinion. I do not have to search each person’s twitter what they are interested in. Just type in my favorite words, it directly finds what I want. HashTag is an innovate and new form of search engine that communicate with people.

I'm in the same boat as a lot of folks on this one. I started a Twitter account at a friend's behest about a year ago and never did much with it. It was only recently – around the time this class started, imagine that – that I started actively following tweeters and various hashtags. My favorites have always been #michiganstate and #big10 for news and comments concerning college football and basketball. This weekend I've been following #occupywallstreet.

 

I haven't ever used hashtags before this class because I did not use twitter and I am still a little bit confused on how to use them but I have the jist of it. I definitely see hashtags all the time on tv on certain tv stations like comedy central and mtv which helps keep the stations relavent on social media sites and that defintely increases viewing for those channels. I also see hashtags on commercials to follow a further story or to see a certain product. I have been using twitter more and I like reading the #haveyouever page because of lot of people have ridiculous things to say on twitter and it's funny. Other then that one I have yet to find a good way to find other funny hashtags.

Since my Twitter account is relatively new, I have yet to familiarize myself with the site or figure out what my favorite Hashtag is. However, I believe that the use of keyword searching on a social media site could be beneficial for a company concerned with brand image. With a Hashtag created for a specific company, product, or industry, any business could view consumer attitudes in real time and act on the input faster than waiting for a formal and often expensive report. In addition, the business would have the potential to receive more specific and detailed information than otherwise possible. By contacting the tweeter, a company could speak to its consumers directly; concept that would normally be difficult or impossible. Though I have yet to fully engage myself in the social media world, I do see its potential as a marketing tool for businesses. 

 

i've had twitter for about 3 years now and i have yet to use a hashtag. When I first saw it I was confused at what it was for and I still don't fully understand it. I've recently started getting an idea for what it is for and I think it's an interesting concept to use. I can see how it can be used to focus in on a topic and to communicate to a group. I don't think that I'm going to be using it much or much at all anytime soon but I do like it when others use it.

About 10 months ago, when I first started tweeting, I found hashtags and trends to be one of the most confusing aspects of Twitter.  I didn't understand the point of hashtags, but I did enjoy watching trends develop and eventually die out.  Looking back through my tweeting history, I see that it took me about 4 months to understand and effectively use hashtags, although I tried with my very first tweet.  Now that I've gotten a better feel for Twitter, I find hasthtags to be a fun way to summarize (even further) the main point of your tweet.  I also like to follow, and occassionally participate, in popular hashtagging contests or games that are amusing or involve a community of people that I feel electronically connected to.  However, a lot of people that I follow on Twitter, especially my personal (real-life) friends,  use hashtags #liketheyregoingoutofstyle, as in #excessively and to a point that I often find it #annoying!

I was a little late joining the Twitter world but I have been on there long enough to know what a hashtag is. I usually associate the hashtag with what is called a "trending topic." When enough people in one location are tweeting about the same thing and there is a keyword that appears in each tweet, there is a great chance that that word, or few words, will start trending in that area and become a hashtag.  I dont have a favorite one but I have participated in using trending topics or hashtags when I think they are interesting.  They're usually funny and the people I follow on twitter who participate in the trending topics usually give me a good laugh.  I think hashtags are a good way to get involved and participate in what social media has to offer.  Its also a good way to categorize your tweets.  You can also create your own hashtags within tweets about things that may interest you.  This allows you to have a chance to get recognition from other twitter users. If a word is searched that you applied a hashtag to in your tweets, your tweet will pop up along with other users tweets that have used that word. I think if people remembered this aspect, hashtags would be a lot more useful rather than just for laughs and giggles.  

I never knew what a HashTag was for before this class because I had never used Twitter.  Although I am still very unfamiliar with it, I can understand how the creation of the HashTag would be a very efficient way to allow people to communicate. I think that this form of communication is really innovative because it allows people to share their ideas and thoughts and view what others said when they share the same HashTags.  I think it could be more effective though if popular HashTags were shown in a sidebar next to your homepage because I think that would allow new Tweeters to get more familiar with what HashTags are and what they can provide for both businesses and people.  Of all the HashTags on the list, my favorite ones are #haveyouever and #icantlivewithout because they're both extremely entertaining.

I have never used Twitter before this class, and even though I had heard of hashtags, I never really understood them. But now, I think hashtags are a great way to connect on the web. It is a way to categorize your tweet, and when someone searches that phrase or word, your personal tweet will appear. This was a fun way for Twitter to take individual tweets and apply them to an overall general topic, making the Twitter community seem more personalized. I enjoyed the list of top hashtags of 2010! #LetsGoState

#whitegirlproblems (or #[insert race/socioeconomical level]gir[boy]problems) and #depressingsitcoms are my favorite hastags. I think that they can be an effective means of communication. Recently, during the MLB ALCS #postseason has been advertised alot. I'm a little torn on when a business tells me what hashtag I should use, it just feels a little forcefull, a little invasive; it's like they are telling me how I should perviece something. I understand they do it so that they can better track what is being said about #AHS (American Horror Story) but sometimes I think that "organically" formed hashtags can be more effective because it comes from how the audience percieves it.

As a new memeber to the Twitter community I am still very new to the idea of hash-tagging. Although I may be inexperienced, the purpose of using the pound sign in order to focus the reader's attention to a particular subject is brilliant to me. It allows the message to be read in the context which it was written in, and greatly decreases the chances of confusion. At the same time, friends are allowed to share their respective views and promote whatever trend or idea they have in mind. Over time, hash-tagging has developed into a tool that companies use in order to reach their target audience more effectively which only adds an extra element to the marketing mix. Overall, I believe that hash-tagging is the future of social media, and will be commonly used for years to come.