Part Four: Twitter for Educators…The Only Guide You’ll Need

So far…in the last three parts, you have signed up on Twitter, found some people to follow, replied, retweeted and perhaps composed a message or two.

Today we are going to learn about hashtags.

Egads…I know…you have been wondering about those. Well, it’s your lucky day.

• Hashtags are comprised of a pound sign (#) followed by some words, letters and/or numbers.
• Hashtags make ideas/topics/conversations easier to find.
• Hashtags are a special type of tag.

So How Does This Work?

Let’s look at an example. Here is the tweet from last post.

Hey! What is up with the Oilers? Are they still rebuilding? http://goo.gl/8J2lI9

Here it is with the hashtag.

Hey! What is up with the #Oilers? Are they still rebuilding? http://goo.gl/8J2lI9

Now this tweet is more searchable for other users on Twitter.

Fun Facts about Hashtags

• There is no limit to the amount of hashtags in a tweet other than the 140 character limit.
• Major cities often use airport codes to identify themselves. Edmonton’s airport code is Yeg so the hashtag for Edmonton is #Yeg. 
• Here is fun list of all the NHL team hashtags and Twitter accounts.

Let’s add #Yeg to our tweet.

Hey! What is up with the #Yeg #Oilers? Are they still rebuilding? http://goo.gl/8J2lI9

On your twitter home page you find a section on the lower left side labeled “Trends” There will be a list of hastags that are currently trending. If you select one, a list of tweets will pop up. You might find some interesting information or some new people to follow.

Next post…we will look at organizing our Tweets. 

Twitter Series
Part One
Part Two
Part Three

Until Next Time,

Lit Maven Out!