What is a hashtag?

And how do I use them?

So what are hashtags?

Hashtags are any word in the social conversation that begins with the "#" symbol. Americans refer to it as a "pound sign", but it's known as a "hash" pretty much everywhere else. A "#" in front of a word like "politics" makes it a hashtag: #politics! So what are they used for?

Hashtags are everywhere. Politicians have them (#Obama), sport leagues (#Superbowl, #NBA) and television shows like "American Idol" (#idol). Hashtags simply let you associate your tweets with a larger topic, group or conversation. It's like adding keywords to your message to make it globally searchable.

When should I use a hashtag?

You should use a hashtag when you are trying to talk about a specific topic. You can use one that's floating around and join in on that conversation, or completely make up your own and get a new topic started.

If you are trying to make a specific point about any of the hashtags to the right, it’s a good idea to use the hashtag. Doing so will enable others to find your contribution to the global conversation without having to know or follow you.

Hashtags usually refer to things like:

Subjects: #freedom, #biotech, #news, etc.
Events: #SXSW, #Olympics, #Election, etc.
Places: #NYC, #LAX, #London, etc.
Things: #coffee, #computers, #cars, etc.
Verbs: #golfing, #cooking, #flying, etc.

How do I use hashtags?

Using hashtags is easy. You simply put the "#" sign in front of whatever it is you are trying to associate your tweet with.

International Friends: We do our best to support all standard international characters, but we are not perfect. If you run into a situation where we are not recognizing a valid hashtag due to international characters, please let us know.

Here are some general rules to making a hashtag:

No spaces or punctuation characters.
Underscores are OK
Standard international characters are OK
No crazy characters like (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻

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