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What is the meaning of "hash tag"?
12-04-2012, 10:14 AM
Post: #1
What is the meaning of "hash tag"?
Isn't it just a pound sign? What does it mean exactly, and who came up with the idea of calling it a "hash tag"?

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12-04-2012, 10:22 AM
Post: #2
 
Hashtags are words or phrases prefixed with the symbol #,[1][2] a form of metadata tag. Also, short messages on microblogging social networking services such as Twitter, Tout, identi.ca, or Google+ may be tagged by including one or more with multiple words concatenated, e.g.:
#Wikipedia is an #encyclopedia

Searching for the string #Wikipedia will cause this word to appear in the search engine results. Such tags are case-insensitive, with CamelCase often used for readability.\

Origin
Hashtags first appeared and were used within IRC networks to label groups and topics. They are also used to mark individual messages as relevant to a particular group, and to mark individual messages as belonging to a particular topic or "channel".[3] Generally, channels or topics that are available across an entire IRC network are prepended with a hash symbol '#' (as opposed to those local to a server, which use an ampersand '&'). Hashtags' popularity grew concurrently with the rise and popularity of Twitter. It inspired Chris Messina to propose a similar system to be used on Twitter to tag topics of interest on the microblogging network. [4] He posted the alleged first post on Twitter to include what would become the "hashtag":

“how do you feel about using # (pound) for groups. As in #barcamp [msg]?”
—Chris Messina, ("factoryjoe"), August 23, 2007[5]

The first high-profile application of the hashtag was by San Diego, California resident Nate Ritter,[6] who included #sandiegofire in his frequent posts on the October 2007 California wildfires hitting San Diego County. Internationally, the hashtag became a practice of writing style for Twitter posts during the 2009–2010 Iranian election protests, as both English and Persian-language hashtags became useful for Twitter users inside and outside of Iran.

Beginning July 1, 2009, Twitter began to hyperlink all hashtags to search results containing all recent posts mentioning either the hashtag or the standard spelling of such words, provided that such words are written in the same order of characters. This was accentuated in 2010 with the introduction of "Trending Topics" on the Twitter front page, as highly trafficked hashtags are featured as Trending Topics.

Function:
Hashtags are mostly used as unmoderated ad-hoc discussion forums; any combination of characters led by a hash sign is a hashtag, and any hashtag, if promoted by enough individuals, can "trend" and attract more individual users to discussion using the hashtag. On Twitter, when a hashtag becomes extremely popular, it will appear in the 'Trending Topics' area of a user's homepage. The trending topics can be organized by geographic area or by all of Twitter. Hashtags are neither registered nor controlled by any one user or group of users, and neither can they be "retired" from public usage, meaning that hashtags can be used in theoretical perpetuity depending upon the longevity of the word or set of characters in a written language. They also do not contain any set definitions, meaning that a single hashtag can be used for any number of purposes as espoused by those who make use of them.

Because of their loose nature, hashtags often become more recognized as associated with particular topics of discussion based upon a more-specific spelling of the hashtag (e.g., "#cake" as opposed to "#thecakeisalie") that will be differentiated from a more-general spelling. However this can also make it difficult for topics to become "trending topics" because people often use different spelling or words to refer to the same topic. In order for topics to trend, there has to be a consensus, whether silent or stated, what the hashtag is for that specific topic.

Hashtags also function as beacons in order for users to find and "follow" (subscribe) or "list" (organize into public contact lists) other users of similar interest.

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