Hashtag Etiquette #10SummerBlogs

Five years ago it was known as the number sign/pound sign.  Now this little sign (#) is known as the hashtag and it has taken over social media to the point I even used on in the title of this post. Older individuals find them annoying, younger individuals find them addicting, and people like me find them to be powerful.  In 2009 twitter became the forerunners on hashtags by hyper-linking them, making it possible to connect with people with the same hashtags.  You can now use them to chat, connect, market, or even emphasize something within a post.  Hashtags are now used on just about every form of social media, and I feel obligated to go over some rules of hashtagging, before you get too carried away.

1. Quit over-hashtagging.  I know you have seen it in the past where someone decides to add in about 40 hashtags to there post.  When I see this I question the purpose.  Hashtags should be short and meaningful.  The purpose is to connect and emphasize, not scare people.  Generally speaking I think 1-3 in a post is ok but never more than 5.
2. Relevance, Relevance, Relevance.  You have lost everything with me if you decide to throw in some random hashtag with no meaning to your post.  This one doesn't happen a lot, but it sticks out like bad writing, when it does.  
3. Short and Simple people.  A hashtag needs to be short and simple.  Something easy to type and something that sticks out to other readers.  It needs to be something that others are hashtagging too.  I should be able to click on your hashtag and instantly be connected with hundreds, thousands, maybe millions of others who are hashtagging the same thing.  If I click on your hashtag and you are the only lonely soul that used that hashtag, then it wasn't meant to be a hashtag.  The only argument for this is if you are trying to start a trend, in that case it better be memorable.  If your hashtag is more than 3-4 words it's too long (for the most part).  
4. Use them where they matter.  Facebook is not the place for hashtags.  Twitter and Instagram are.  The only exception to this rule is if your posts/tweets are automatically uploaded to Facebook.  In that sense you are ok because it always says that it was uploaded via those sites.  Twitter has always been the front man for hashtags and for some reason it picked up well on Instagram, but Facebook was a little late to the show and has never been able to catch up.  Facebook has other uses though, which still makes it powerful.  Google+ has embraced the hashtag very well.
5. Understand the hashtag.  I see this one all the time, and it might just be judgement.  Do a little research before you hashtag to fully understand what a hashtag is.  It's not just a symbol you throw in front of a word to make it a link, it's so much more.  On that same note, don't just discount the hashtag because young people throw the term around.  There is a lot of power behind that hashtag, but you need to understand what it does and why we do it to really use them effectively.  

So, there you have it.  The 5 rules of hashtagging.  We tell the students and kids we have to use social media correctly, so we need to start doing the same by following these suggestions for a powerful tool.  Start using hashtags but please don't be that annoying person who doesn't know what they doing.  You'll end up like that person who thinks they know the lyrics to a song and ends up blurting out the wrong words.  Thanks for reading and I hope you learn something.