One of the confusing things to many new Twitter users is this seemingly weird use of symbols and acronyms that they are suddenly exposed to in a 140 character world.

While long time texters are familiar with the texting shorthand (LOL, BRB, IMHO, IDK*) that’s been adapted to Twitter there are a few variations unique to the Twittersphere that are a bit puzzling.

In this post we’ll tackle one particular Twitter convention that a lot of people struggle to get their heads around, hashtags.

Twitter Hashtags Explained

#[something] – this is a hash tag symbol, “#” (some of us think of it as the pound sign) followed by a word, phrase or acronym. Hash tags sprang up as a way for people to easily track conversations (or “tweets“, i.e., a twitter post) about a particular topic (#taxes), ideology (#rush), event (#FollowFriday), person (#Obama), company (#Dell), or product (#iphone) on Twitter. Hashtags.org is the mothership for all things hash tagged and, if you follow their Twitter feed (@hashtags), they’ll track and aggregate your use of hashtags in your personal posts.

Hashtags demonstrated…

Let’s say that I’m interested in starting a Twitter conversation about President Obama’s new health plan. I may create a hash tag called #OHP (for Obama’s Health Plan) to track this conversation on Twitter. Each time I tweet about the health plan I add the tag, #OHP, to my post and savvy respondents will do the same. Then I can use a number of tools including Twitter Search and Hashtags.org to see what everyone is contributing to this particular conversation. Sample Tweet stream (all Tweets made up):

Obama’s health plan is causing a lot of controversy. Ur opinion? Good or bad? #OHP
@tomjgray

Obama’s so called health plan is the first step on the road to perdition. #OHP
@rushonalimb

Every American is entitled to comprehensive health care and if the government needs to drive this the so be it #OHP
@bleedingheartliberal

… and so the Tweets flow…

Each time you use a hashtag in a post that post get’s captured at Hashtags.org and the entire conversation can be easily accessed there. Here’s a screen capture that illustrates how conversations are cataloged:

Drilling Down with Hashtags

If you want to ‘drill down’ into a particular conversation then you merely click on the hashtag itself (e.g., #iphone) to review a chronological listing of all the Tweets that have contained this tag as well as monthly activity for this hashtag….

If You Want to Know More About Hashtags

For further understanding of Hashtags I’d recommend that you visit Hashtags.org and just explore the various options it provides for discovering the multitude of hashtags going on all around you on Twitter.

For even more good stuff on hashtags visit the hashtag page at the Twitter Fan Wiki.

One Last Thing

I encourage you to participate in the many dialogues tracked by hashtags on Twitter and to use hashtags to start and track your own but to avoid confusion do yourself, and your followers a favor, and check to see if the hashtag you’d like to use is available by checking it out in the directory of hashtags on twitter.

I’m Available to Help

As always, leave your comments or contact me directly with your questions about Twitter or other social media.

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[*LOL - Laugh Out Loud, BRB - Be Right Back, IMHO - In My Humble Opinion, IDK - I Don't Know]

A social media survey of 200 social media leaders by Abrams Research reports that Twitter was selected as the top spot for business dollars by a 40% to 15% margin over Facebook. However, asked which site they’d be most likely to pay to access and Facebook got the most votes. LinkedIn showed well in both categories.

Highlights of Social Media Questions:

A total of 7 questions were addressed, these I found to be the most interesting…

1. Which social media service would you be most likely to pay for?

• Facebook 32.2%
• Linkedin 29.7%
• Twitter 21.8%

2. What social media service would you advise a business pay for?

• Twitter 39.6%
• Linkedin 21.3%
• YouTube 18.8%
• …

The juxtaposition in Twitter in Question 1 & 2 is a head scratcher for me. The Social Media gurus would pay for Facebook over Twitter but recommend their clients to pay for Twitter with Facebook not even in the top 3. Curious. (Comments on this?)

4. Which corporation has done the best job of using social media? …

1. Zappos (online shopping site)
2. Obama (campaign and presidency)
3. CNN
4. Comcast (“Comcast Cares”)
5. Jetblue
…

5. What’s the best way to monetize social media?

• “Freemium” use, i.e. a free basic model followed by a fee for advanced options (i.e. storage, analytics) 45.5%
• Targeted ads (e.g. contextual ads) 20.3%
• Research (polling, surveys, trend-mining) 8.9%
• …

Click the link to for the 10 Page (PDF) report of Abrams Research Social Media Survey.

The Pew Internet & American Life Project reports that use of social networking sites by adults has quadrupled from 2005 to December 2008. In 2005 only 8% of adults reported having a profile on the social network sites while today that number exceeds 35%. Percentage wise adults still trail the 65% of teenagers with profiles but since the adult population is so much larger the reality is that about 4 times as many adults as teens have a social network profile in place.

Overall, around 100 million Americans of every age have profiles. That’s around a third of the total population with a social network profile. And, considering that the top 10 social media sites as reported by Nielson Online (source: http://mashable.com/2009/01/23/most-popular-social-networks-2008/) draw over 180 million visits a day, I’d say there’s little wonder that Twitter’s been valued at $250 million (growth in 2008; 664%) and apparently offered $500 million (owner’s reportedly politely declined, obviously believe can get more). 

By the Social Network Numbers

Pew reports the following age groups having profiles on social network sites (the question asked is mine):

• 75% of online adults 18-24 <– Are they your audience?
• 57% of online adults 25-34 <– Are they your audience?
• 30% of online adults 35-44 <– Are they your audience?
• 19% of online 45 to 54 <– Are they your audience?
• 10% of online 55 to 64 <– Are they your audience?
• 7% of online adults 65 <– Are they your audience?

The Social Media Gold Rush

Still think that you don’t need to a.) stake your claim on twitter, linkedin, facebook, et al, and b.) shouldn’t be consumed with understanding how to mine social media for connections, opportunities and revenue discovered in the gold filled streams of social media? You will.

Getting Started with Social Media

I ascribe to the Nike Methodology, Just Do It! Go to Facebook and setup a profile. Same with LinkedIn. Same with Twitter. Same with YouTube … and any other social media platform that tickles your fancy or that you’ve heard that your peers, colleagues or customers frequent. Sign up. Follow. Connect. Capitalize. (Social Network Tip: the best way to capitalize is to add value for others already there. Believe me, you’ll get plenty of value back!)

It’s as simple, to get started, as that.

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By the way, if you’re interested in a 3rd party perspective or assistance, give me a call (303.882.8252). I’d love to discuss social media networking and marketing opportunities for you and your business.

I recently made a presentation on social media marketing where I presented the following as the formula for social media marketing success…

P⁴ + V = V^x

Where the components of the social networking equation equal:

P = passion, the passion for your field, expertise, life. If you lack passion it will show!

P = presence; you have to fully inhabit the social media space to fully benefit. It doesn’t mean that you have to stake your claim on every social network space available. But you do need to be on the ones that matter in your field and to the audience you seek to connect with.

P = participation; you can’t just lurk, you have to join the conversation and not just to say Hi! You need to add value. You need to say, “… great post/comment/tweet have you considered this/here’s 3 more items to add to the list/I totally disagree and here’s why…” Otherwise you’re just a ‘yes’ person and a waste of comment space.

P = persistence; you can’t tune in every now and again, post a few blogs, tweet a few posts, you need to be there on a regular and consistent basis or you’ll be ignored. The good news is that there are plenty of gadgets, tools, plug-ins and mashups available to help you in this task.

V = value; this is the key, the more value you add to the mix, the more value you’ll receive in return which is why the result of the formula is V^x where ^x is a variable that’s determined by the value you’ve contributed to the social media conversation. The more value you add, the more value you’ll get in return. It’s an exponential thing!

Need a Math Tutor!

I advise clients on social media networking and how to give in order to get. Contact me if you need a social media tutor. Contact with me at 303.882.8252. Email tom.gray[AT]gemsolv.com. Connect to me on LinkedIn or follow me at Twitter.

Comments Please

What’s your formula for social media networking success? Leave your 2 cents below!

Image Credit: Superbokehtheorie : Originally uploaded by eriwst

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