• Welcome to VegasMessageBoard
    It appears you are visiting our community as a guest.
    In order to view full-size images, participate in discussions, vote in polls, etc, you will need to Log in or Register.

Enlighten me please. What does a hashtag mean?

Status
Not open for further replies.
Joe

Joe

VIP Whale
Joined
Sep 11, 2009
Messages
16,066
Location
Wisconsin
Trips to Las Vegas
175
OK, I admit I'm dumb when it comes to social media. I'm from an era where # meant pounds. But what is the purpose of posting a comment on lets say Facebook, (the only social media I'm on) followed by a hashtag with a subject? #noclue.
 
It's a way for the various social media platforms to aggregate posts about a particular topic that is indicated by the hashtag. When one is used, it is turned into a hyperlink that other users can click on to see what other people are saying about the topic.
 
#+randomsubject will show you every post tagged with that subject. It's not as effective on Facebook but on Twitter, it will give you access to a huge conversation on a trending topic.
 
I think he means, "why hashtag"?

wtf is a hashtag, versus it being the pound sign we all knew?
 
Rush said:
I think he means, "why hashtag"?

wtf is a hashtag, versus it being the pound sign we all knew?
Click to expand...

Well if that's the question instead of "But what is the purpose of posting a comment followed by a hashtag with a subject?" When the term hashtag was introduced it was not meant to refer to the pound sign (or hash or octothorpe) by the term. It was meant as the whole device, the # and the word or phrase that followed. It has since been applied by many to mean the symbol on its own as well.
 
I thought "#" meant "number," which it does for Rush's old timers, as well as "pound."

It's a symbol. Let's not get too tripped up.
 
starlight0229 said:
It's a way for the various social media platforms to aggregate posts about a particular topic that is indicated by the hashtag. When one is used, it is turned into a hyperlink that other users can click on to see what other people are saying about the topic.
Click to expand...

leo21 said:
#+randomsubject will show you every post tagged with that subject. It's not as effective on Facebook but on Twitter, it will give you access to a huge conversation on a trending topic.
Click to expand...
Thanks all. That explains it and since the ONLY social media I have ever been on is FB, I now understand.
 
I'm one of the few who has never been on Facebook and never will. I'm in the tech field so I certainly know all about it but I don't care what my friends and family are having for dinner or what little Jimmy did today at school :)

I do follow some people on Twitter though.
 
vegasvic said:
I'm one of the few who has never been on Facebook and never will. I'm in the tech field so I certainly know all about it but I don't care what my friends and family are having for dinner or what little Jimmy did today at school ....
Click to expand...

re: Facebook : I now some tech friends with the same feeling as yours - though I do not totally agree with it.

I get to see what my friends and family across the company are up to. Lucky for me, they do not post dinner pics. But they do post when somebody is doing something special, had a baby, got promoted, moved, had some special event. These are folks I like to keep up with but do not call every week or two to chat. It really works great for that.
 
Social media is like Italian food in Vegas. Some folks like this and this, don't like that and that, and some folks are the polar opposite.
 
its the pound sign. If you were to use something like twitter and wanted to search for paris. you can type in the search window #paris and it will call up all the posts that people have posted using that hashtag.

When you add a post to the site you can label it with a hashtag so when people search it comes up. Now say you use one that no one can spell or ever heard of, well then. not many people will ever see your posts.
 
As an old telephone guy, the actual name of that "#" character is "octothorpe".
 
starlight0229 said:
Well if that's the question instead of "But what is the purpose of posting a comment followed by a hashtag with a subject?" When the term hashtag was introduced it was not meant to refer to the pound sign (or hash or octothorpe) by the term. It was meant as the whole device, the # and the word or phrase that followed. It has since been applied by many to mean the symbol on its own as well.
Click to expand...
It's also a way of emphasizing whatever word follows the # symbol.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top