Using Twitter Hashtags

Using Twitter Hashtags effectively requires just a little knowledge.
Here are a few tips and some insight as to why people use #hashtags.

The Basics

• What is a hashtag?

The # symbol, is usually referred to as the pound symbol, however it is also called the “Hash” symbol. A hashtag therefore is any word, phrase, or series of letters and numbers which is preceeded by a #.

A hashtag is merely a keyword, and it is denoted on Twitter like this: #hashtaghere

• Why are hashtags important?

The importance of Hashtags only comes into play when people are searching for what others are saying about a particular subject or event. I’ll show you a portion of two screenshots to illustrate the difference.

I went to http://search.twitter.com (formerly known as Summize.com) and searched for “hashtag” and then “#hashtag”. Here are the results.

Searching for the word Hashtag

Searching for the specific #hashtag

Search Results

As you can hopefully see, the use of the # symbol in the search has yielded different results.

In the first image are the results for people who where just using the word “hashtag” in their tweet, and the second image is the results for people specifically talking about the #hashtag.

Hashtags play a pretty signicant role when people are attending events, conferences, or meetups.

Using search.twitter.com during such events, and searching for the proper #hashtag, allows people to keep up with what people are saying. It also lets you discover new Twitterers who might be talking about the same thing.

Choosing the Hashtag

You might be wondering how you’ll know which word to use as the hashtag. Generally, a word or phrase is just agreed upon ahead of time by a few people and then everyone adopts it. It’s not a perfect system, but it works rather well.

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This blog post was written by Michael Bailey. Michael became interested in Social Media in the Summer of 2005 and has devoted thousands of hours towards the development of the MobaTalk Conversation Studio. He believes that the Context of Conversational data is quickly lost on the web using the currently available tools.

MobaTalk Embed Code

I just got the first set of embed codes in place on MobaTalk.com – whenever we create a new video, it posts a link to our Twitter account.

For anyone who clicks on that link from the Twitter stream, it will take them to the direct view page on MobaTalk, where the video will play automatically.

On that direct view page, there is now an embed code for that video, so anyone else can easily copy it and use it on their site.

Here is one such example.

MobaTalk Multimedia Messaging

Flight 93 and assumptions

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZekosYOmXc

Forgive me for bringing this up almost 7 years later, but the events of 9/11 just don't seem to have happened how I remember them.

Seems that a mass hysteria had us all wanting to grasp on to the first explanation that we were handed – some sort of built-in human emotion check system – which, now it seems, made it directly possible for a group of people to play us.

How much "evidence" do you think that it would take for the typical "American"to see before they would be able to admit that what they had previously thought was all just a lie?

 

PodCamp MidWest Feb 16th

It's FREE – come on out and learn or create a session and share your knowledge with others! 

Registration page is here

Sessions page is here

 

What is PodCamp? 

A PodCamp is a usually free BarCamp-style community UnConference for new media enthusiasts and professionals including bloggers, podcasters, YouTubers, social networkers, and anyone curious about new media. The first PodCamp was held September 8-10, 2006 in Boston, Massachusetts. PodCamps are now being held worldwide.

PodCamp isn't just about podcasting! If you're interested in blogging, social media, social networking, podcasting, video on the net, if you're a podsafe musician (or want to be), or just someone curious about new media, then please join us — and bring a friend or colleague.

 

 

Drop that Web and step away slowly.

Some people have described me as a blogger, but I'm not really. I just write some things from time to time – whatever was on my mind – I was never any good at having an agenda.

A little more than two years ago, I started listening to podcasts and I found myself getting hooked on the whole New Media scene.

As some of you already know, that's when I created the audio comment system called MyChingo – a lot of people wanted an easy way to send in their comments as an MP3 file.

MyChingo has been a success within the podcasting community.

My behavior after the deployment of MyChingo was one which was fueled by passion. My passion to continue creating tools for the podcasting and video blogging community.

Travel, travel, travel

From September, 2006 until the fall of 2007 I traveled to 11 different events around the nation and even Canada! (oh yeah, that cost around $8,500 to pull all of that off – lots of hotels and that stuff called alke-haul).

I met a ton of famous people, including you (don't be modest now!).

I kept working on the next version of MyChingo – something that would include audio, video, text, and images – all the ways which we communicate – the problem was always in the packaging.

Was it supposed to be a plug-in for a blog or a stand-alone site, thereby creating yet another "silo" in the fields of cyberspace (a big taboo topic, silos are).

I ended up created my own drag-n-drop content management system, with in-browser recording of audio and video too. The batch upload of images was a snap, and they'd even turn into a flash slideshow if you wanted.

The problem was that as I was figuring out all of the technology and developing the system around what I has learned, I didn't have any new business coming in – in fact, I was turning down new business because I simple "had" to get this finished.

One month turned into one quarter, and the next thing that I knew it had been more than a year.

So, while I was so focused on the technology, I has just assumed that someone else who knew more about business than I did would come along and offer to partner up.

Well, it never happened.

So, what can you learn from my life?

Lesson #1 – Have a plan.

Lesson #2 – No matter how good of a plan you think it is, have someone else pay for it.

Lesson #3 – Somehow, even when you are more than $100k in debt, you can sleep at night without drinking or drugs.  

…

I'm currently seeking employment preferably in the mid-to upper management level with about 50 companies – 4 of which are ongoing conversations.

 

p.s. PodCamp MidWest is Feb. 16th (That's 12 days from now!)

– I do still have great passion for this fishbowl, so if you can make it to the Kansas/Missouri area, I'd love to meet you or see you again.

 

…

 

Get out there and Do It!

My friend, Greg Cangialosi has just written an incredibly insightful blog post about his venture into the realm of public speaking. 

I have put myself out there during the last year, but not as much as Greg has. I'm going to continue to talk about what I am passionate about, and I have found that I really love meeting new people.

My attitude has really changed during the last year – I've realized just how much I had been hanging out in a "comfort zone" and it turns out that I really can change things if I decide to do it.

Fear is a silly little thing to have, but it's way easy to build things up in our minds to the point that we don't even try.

TechForward, a Future Conference?

Long time friend, Chris Brogan posted today about taking a look, 5 years ahead, with regard to communications and social media.

Here’s one thought I have about a possible future service.

The major telcos and online service providers will continue to figure things out, of course, and monetize them as well.

So, here’s one example of something which we might see one day.

Scenario Title: On-Demand MegaBand Mashup
Given: We currently amass tons of real-time weather data.
Given: The airport flight data is currently accessible.

The mashup:
1) A strong thunderstorm rolls into a given region.
2) Femco cells start to automatically add additional capacity for the region.
3) Passengers who are already on their plane, and those waiting in the terminals are all going online to update their family or business about the expected delays.
4) The storm passes.
5) Bandwidth is slowly relinquished back to a standby state, or shifted to another region.

Results?
I don’t think that we need fatpipes which are constantly “hot” being wired to all areas of this planet. I think that systems will be created that can be able to predict where the major usage is going to take place, and then make capacities available as we need them.

What part of that is working now?
Hosted providers are given the options for “burstable” plans. You pay a set amount for a minimum, the the extra bandwidth is automatically made available for when high-traffic happens.

So, what would happen if key players from each industry got together, and were lead by a few thought leaders- is it possible, that someday companies might actually work together towards a common goal?

PodCamp Boston2 and VON

Packing up for a week long business trip.

I hope to get a chance to meet you at PodCamp Boston or during VON (Video on the Net).

If you see me, please don’t be shy, say hi.

PodCamp Boston 2 and Video on the Net

Okay, so I’m gearing up to leave Independence, Missouri on Friday (October 26th) – headed to Boston for two back-to-back events, PodCamp Boston 2 (where it all began) followed by Fall VON 2007 (video on the net).

This is my last planned trip for the year – I hope to meet you there if we haven’t met before, and if we have, it will be great getting a chance to see you again.

Be sure to bring lots of business cards – this image is of all the cards that I have collected during the past year alone. It’s the paper version of my social network.

I think that we all have the same goal in mind, so let’s all work together to make good things happen.

If there’s one thing which has been proven to me during the last two years, it is the fact that I cannot do it all by myself.

I hope to see you there!

Hot of the press – JPR Minizine Issue #1

I just returned to the office with a box full of the first issue of the JPR Minizine.

Inside this issue:

PodCamp Roots
Shows to Watch
Online Services
Spotlight on PodCasters
Podcast Reality Check
Word Search
Cross Word 

Now all I need to do is figure out how to pack them all into my suitcase in order to bring them out to PodCampNYC