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Explain hashtags to me


DawnM
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:iagree:

 

And honestly, people, am I the only one who thinks that Twitter is just one more way for people to make themselves believe that everything they do, and every single trite little thought that pops into their mind, needs to be shared with the world -- and even worse, that they think the world cares about it?

 

We are becoming a society of self-absorbed, over-sharing idiots.

 

I don't care what you watched on TV last night. I don't care what you ate for breakfast this morning. Spare me the picture of the sandwich you're having for lunch. Seriously. You just aren't that fascinating. None of us are so wildly interesting that people should want to see a picture of the bowl of cereal we ate for breakfast or hear that someone cut us off in traffic this morning. Even we shouldn't care about that stuff within about 10 seconds of when it happens, so perhaps that should be a clue that we don't need to immortalize it on Twitter for the entire world to see.

 

And don't even get me started on how people seem to be becoming less and less capable of writing in complete sentences in real life, as a result of being in the habit of texting and tweeting. It's as though many people have completely forgotten how to capitalize, use punctuation, or even to put spaces between words when they type them. I think it's sad, and I don't consider it to be a sign of progress.

 

Sorry. I'm kinda grumpy this morning.

I use Facebook to follow people I know, but twitter to learn about what's happening. There are parts of the world where the media is even less trustworthy than here. Twitter let's you see what the people have to say in real time. You can follow local politics or museums. I don't have time to check the Smithsonian website every day, but I can add them to my twitter feed, i can scan a one line update and follow up if something sounds interesting.

 

If you only follow the accounts that interest you, it can be a very streamlined source of information. I don't have it in me to read every news source and website every day. With twitter I can do a quick scan of the accounts I follow, and maybe a trending topic, and keep up with the world. I don't have cable or listen to the radio so it's useful to me.

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Ok, but I'll join the crowd of knitting grannies.

Where are you supposed to search for these tags which are called hashtags? Go to twitter.com and perhaps there is a search function there? Or google them?

If they are links why are they not clickable?

Or is it just a way to make a joke at the end of what you are saying, and not a real link at all??

like this:

#confuseanyssa

#grannynyssa

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Ok, but I'll join the crowd of knitting grannies.

Where are you supposed to search for these tags which are called hashtags? Go to twitter.com and perhaps there is a search function there? Or google them?

If they are links why are they not clickable?

Or is it just a way to make a joke at the end of what you are saying, and not a real link at all??

like this:

#confuseanyssa

#grannynyssa

If you're reading a tweet and it contains a word with a hashtag, you can click on the hashtagged word. Twitter will display all other tweets containing the same hashtag. Hashtags have 'just' become searchable on Facebook as well.

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Internet fad.

 

 

Hashtags didn't originate on Twitter; they've been around since IRC days, going on 25 years now (omigosh that makes me feel old!)? I'm not sure that qualifies as a fad. 

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Internet fad.

 

 

Disagree. Hashtags are organizational tools that have already been around for several years (since 2007 or before if you just count regular tags, which this board used to have) and aren't going away anytime soon. Just because a certain segment of the population is just now finding out about them and doesn't understand how to use them correctly—including those who misuse them and tag every word they write—doesn't mean they are a fad.

 

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I think I must be great-grandma with dementia in this conversation.....even after reading the explanation I don't get it :)

What does #tenpointsformom have to do with cooking waffles ??

My friends on Facebook use # sometimes and I don't get what they mean lol.

  

 

As an example, using the "tenpointsformom hashtag cited above, I'd guess the OP was congratulating herself for baking something relatively healthy for her family:  "Color me creative/proud of myself."       #feelinglikeabonafidehomemaker     :001_cool:

 

 

Yep, exactly :)

  

I prefer hash browns  #mmmmhashbrowns

Post of the day!

 

And people using the word "hash tag" as a verbal expression to emphasize a point makes me want to punch them in the face.

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I am not a hashtag hater. I think they are interesting, offer additional info, and are often pretty funny.

 

Why do people dislike the most minor thing, just because it's new? That annoys me. Like, "I'm not getting a smartphone because everyone else has one!"

 

Smartphones rock. You can knit * and* still appreciate good hashtags and/or the brilliance of SP technology!

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I am not a hashtag hater. I think they are interesting, offer additional info, and are often pretty funny.

 

Why do people dislike the most minor thing, just because it's new? That annoys me. Like, "I'm not getting a smartphone because everyone else has one!"

 

Smartphones rock. You can knit * and* still appreciate good hashtags and/or the brilliance of SP technology!

I don't think people hate things because they're new. Sometimes they just dislike them because they are annoying.

 

Personally, I think some people go out of their way to overuse every new thing they hear about, because they want to impress their friends and family with how incredibly current and cool they are. "Look at me! I'm not old! I use hashtags!" :rolleyes:

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I used Twitter in the beginning of twitter. You had 140 characters to express your thoughts. As Twitter evolved, you could add pictures and sort tweets, and other things. They added hashtags so you could label your tweets/posts for future searching. One way to find all of the tweets in a particular topic was to search the hashtag. (#knitting)

 

However, hashtags evolved to be more about humoring the current reader than making it easy for future readers to find. It became almost like a stage whisper. It turned from this:

 

I'm knitting with my grandmother. #knitting

 

To this:

 

I'm knitting with my grandmother. #shootmenow

 

I think hashtags dropped to Facebook when Twitter users set up their accounts so that they could type one post and update all of their social media sites at once.

 

"I am eating pie. #pie"

 

Eventually, Facebook users who didn't use twitter got used to seeing hashtags and began using them too even though they're not tied to a search feature on Facebook.

 

Remember the old boards where you could list the topic for searches, but it turned into hilarity so much so that a sticky was added to keep us in line and remind us of the proper use? THAT'S how hashtags came to be. #boundtohappen #naturalorderofthings #Texasgetseverythinglast #signofendtimes #justkeepknitting

 

Makes sense to an ol' fogey like me... thanks!

 

I made the mistake a year ago asking the question what is a hashtag and got a nerdy (tech-speak) answer by a IT guy that made no sense to me.  Your explanation makes sense. :lol:

 

I know of a young lady who was a super go-getter in high school (class of '09) and Class President.  She recently married the high school's star quarterback and all of her FB posts always had hashtags that were (even to me) annoying.  I understand she does this from a PR to all of her friends... but I think she has a future in politics the way she self-promotes herself. Yowza.

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#OhOkIgetitnow. #10pointsformeyay #youreallyshouldn'ttypegetanditnexttoeachother :)

 

No wonder I was so thick about it

 

A. I still haven't figured out what Twitter is for

 

B. I've heard the expression "Colour me..." Hundreds of times in books and magazines and never understood what it meant....maybe because we never used it in Australia??? I have seriously sat for ages pondering that phrase LOL

 

 

I can barely keep up with this board without wasting half my day....I don't need to be following twitter as well to take up the other half......when do people get stuff done anymore between FB, twittering your every thought and coming up with witty hash tags....that would be a full time job for me LOL

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Smartphones rock. You can knit * and* still appreciate good hashtags and/or the brilliance of SP technology!

I search for knitting patterns on my smartphone. I prefer to look at them on my iPad, but I have my phone with e all of the time. I have a few patterns stored in my phone, too.

:D

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I am currently sitting at the pool using twitter to chat with an author about his book using hash tags to coordinate the chat. It is awesome.

Kids today... :P

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