Facebook introduces Hashtags

Facebook have announced that users will now be able to use hashtags. This move may seem like they are just copying Twitter but it is actually a very useful way of discovering new content within Facebook, however we can see that it is likely to annoy a lot of their users too.

 

With hashtags you can: 

1. Search for a specific hashtag from your search bar.
2. Click on hashtags that originate on other services, such as Instagram.
3. Compose posts directly from the hashtag feed and search results.

 

Facebook is adding support for hashtags to help its users keep track of popular topics that are being discussed through the social network.

Adding the “#” sign to a word will turn it into a clickable link which brings up a feed on what other people are saying about the same topic.

Twitter was the first to popularise the hashtag but many other social networks support hashtags including Google+, LinkedIn, Tumblr and Instagram which is owned by Facebook.

 

Why hashtags?

Hashtags are great for real-time marketing, by clicking a hashtag it will bring up a chronologically ordered list of comments using the same term, including posts from people and pages they were not friends with and had not liked in the past.

Facebook said "Hashtags are just the first step to help people more easily discover what others are saying about a specific topic and participate in public conversations, we'll continue to roll out more features in the coming weeks and months, including trending hashtags and deeper insights, that help people discover more of the world's conversations."

Facebook users can still limit who can see their hashtagged posts though.

Although a lot of users may be annoyed about the use of hashtags on Facebook, the social networking couldn’t ignore the potential hashtags have with advertisers.

Hashtags are very popular with advertisers as they are a way to extend the value and reach of advertising.

Facebook currently doesn’t allow advertisers to target people posting a specific hashtag or to sponsor a hashtag like Twitter does but it looks like this is in the pipeline as a way for them to target the growing “real-time marketing” budgets.