That Mysterious # sign in Twitter…What Does it Mean?
I’ve recently started using Twitter a lot ( you can follow me at http://twitter.com/KristineWirth) and would sometimes see people who post a tweet using a hash symbol (#) before a few words…I never gave it much thought until another person on Twitter wondered what the hash symbol (#) meant.
Since I had seen it as well, I too got curious and so decided to do a little investigation…here’s what I found…
The hash mark (#) before a word in a post allows you to tag that post for that word. However, in order to get tracked via a hash tag, you need to opt-in and follow http://twitter.com/hashtags. Once you’re following Hashtags, every time you make a post in Twitter and tag it with a hash mark like so: #iPhone, it will then show up as a real-time post on http://www.Hashtags.org.
If you then visit Hashtags.org, you can click on any tag and it will show you all of the posts that have been tagged with that keyword.
I use the term “keyword” with a grain of salt since some of the tags aren’t keywords in the sense that you know them related to search engine optimization, because some of the tags are completely non-sensical in nature. And although you can get a complete list of words that have been tagged on the site, there is no way (at least currently) to search for a specific tag.
However, it is possible to view all tweets (posts made to Twitter) that contain a specific tag by modifying your URL a bit like so: http://hashtags.org/tag/iPhone.
You can also subscribe to any updates that contain a tag by visiting http://hashtags.org, entering in the tag you want to follow and then clicking “subscribe” on the right hand side of the page.
Since Twitter only allows you to post 140 characters at a time you can see how you’d have to be pretty selective when using the hash mark – although one character doesn’t seem like much, you’d be surprised how much you actually need that one additional character when trying to get a point across in your Twitter post.
***** UPDATE *****
Here is yet another site that you can use that makes use of hash marks. This site allows you to see who has been using the hash mark you enter within their posts and how many times they’ve done so. Note that when you visit this site you don’t have to enter the hash symbol (#) in the search box.
I’d love to hear your thoughts…have you had experience with the hash mark via Twitter?
See Also: Twitter Karma – How to find out who is following you back on Twitter.
Tags: 
I saw many from the BlogHer conference tweeting with them and wondered what they were. Thank you for saving me some time googling the answer.
Kathy Purdys last blog post..How to read more blogs in less time
Hey — thanks for being there w/ your post when we were trying to figure out the deal with the pound sign, er, I mean, “hash tag.” Although your post was as clear as it could have been, like most things social networking, we’ll have to figure out how best to use it by actually using it. Still, we appreciate sharing your insights and experience.
This world is getting crazier and crazier all the time, don’t you think?
Best,
Lani & Allen
“A-Ha Yourself!”
http://www.AhaYourself.com
Great concise explanation I too came to google trying to find out the deal on the # i keep seeing. Good explanation. I can definately see some use for the hash tag & marketing uses/branding. ie #UPS #myonlinestore. #journchat is one i am watching now!
[...] or weeks when you’re asleep. In order to track my progress, I’m going to be using that mysterious hash sign to tag my progress. Over on twitter, you can follow me as cufa, so my dreams will be tagged with [...]
Thanks a bunch! It’s been driving me crazy.
Hey thanks for the information, I searched Google as well, and you came up, I just started using Twitter a week ago, and I’ve been wondering about the # sign from the first day!
Thanks for this blog post. I found it by Googling “twitter hashmark” because I wanted to understand the use of hashtags better (and there’s nothing in Twitter’s help section).
Thank you thank you thank you… I’ve been all over twitter trying to figure out what the hashmarks mean.
I’m glad I finally searched the web for an explaination of what the # in Twitter posts mean. And I learned the # is called a hash tag. Who knew? (obviously, not me)
Thanks for clarifying this for me. Now, I have more questions:
I’ve seen that hashtags are also used to participate in tweetchat. (http://tweetchat.com) There’s another chat function whose URL escapes me at the moment. How do you know if someone is just using a hashtag to track keywords, or if it’s the chat room?
Please keep the good news a’comin’! Thanks again.
MaryBeth Smith @divamovers last blog post..Star Wars, or whatever
Actually I’ve personally never heard of tweetchat. There’s so many new applications for Twitter that it’s hard to keep up.
That being said, I really don’t think that there’s a way to determine if someone is using hashtags to track keywords. Great idea though.
- Kristine
Hashmarks can also allow your tweets to automatically post to a particular group or a community website, be used to enter you into contests and serve other related functions.
I just used a hashmark related to a public event that I attended earlier today (#eventname). Posting the name of the event with the preceding hashmark published my tweet to a related community website, while entering me into a contest being hosted by that website. So, they definitely serve a wide array of purposes.
Thanks so much for explaining this.
That Mysterious # sign in Twitter…What Does it Mean?…
An excellent post and explanation on just what those hash tags do and mean on Twitter….
[...] itself. The audience can include their messages by texting them to a (dutch) shortcode, or using a hashmark in their twitter posts. It enhances the involvement of the audience with the talk, as they have a [...]
[...] might just be the answer. Cover it Live allows Twitter accounts to be displayed (up to 12), and hashmarks, as well as allowing people who come to your site to get into the live [...]
Hi Kristine!
Great post! For this very reason I started http://hashmarksthespot.com/, a directory for # entries. I caught on pretty quick to what they were, but didn’t know what some of the acronyms meant. Hope you find it useful!
JT
[...] to a #Boulder Media Women event…”. If you’re also wondering, here’s an easy to follow explanation from Kristine Wirth’s blog. In brief, the hash marks are a sort of keyword tag in Twitter, [...]
Hi Kristine,
Thanks for this. You just opened up a whole new world of content for me! Wait, I already don’t have enough time, what’s this going to do to me!
Seriously, this will let me track some topics I really need to track. Thanks.
Stephen Cronins last blog post..Poll – Which WordPress Theme Framework To Use?
Thanks for this post, this is the explanation I was looking for!
Hi Kristine,
I don’t understand how the hash marks work? Do you put the # after the message on twitter than it goes to the person?
Jeremy
Hi Jeremy –
Typically the hash mark comes before the hash mark message. For example:
Sample Twitter message: It’s a great day today. #greatday
The message after the hash mark can be literally anything at all but I’ve seen it used often to communicate between groups. Sometimes there will be a seminar that many people are attending and they’ll have a hash mark code that they use to identify that seminar.
Sometimes people will have a tweetup locally where people on Twitter who live in the same location will get together. Then they’ll use something like #dmtweetup to identify that group.
Hope that helps!
- Kristine
Another big THANK YOU (sorry, it was meant to be big, not uppercase…) to you Kristine to figure out the thing with the #hash sign. The twitter help strategy is soooooo poooooooor…..
You’re very welcome Dirk.
It all spawned from my own curiosity so I’m glad it helped others as well.
- Kristine
What a relief to find such a clear and concise explanation. Thanks!!
Carol
Kristine, great post, thank you! Just one question, when you say “You can also subscribe to any updates that contain a tag by posting “follow #tag” (without the quotes) in Twitter.” do you literally mean, add a tweet which says #[tag] and nothing else to then start receiving tweets on key words?
Helen –
That’s what I understand. I posted this quite a while ago and honestly can’t remember where I found the information.
If you’re interested you can also visit http://search.twitter.com/ and enter in a hashtag such as #fail and see all posts that have been made with that hashtag. Not just the ones from people you’re following.
Thanks for the article, a nice simple concise article that saved me from looking like a noob twit.
Thank you for this post! I use twitterfon on my iPhone instead of sms; the app tracks trends and tags in tweets. Half of the results on the trends search had the # before it – bugged the heck outta me until I found your post.
@mathew – I didn’t want to look like a noob twit either!!
Thanks again
@lady_saffy
Oh good! I googled the answer to this and brought up your insightful research! Doing all the work to find an answer just got easier.
hrmm…tried what you were saying for example:
http://hashtags.org/tag/BlackBerry
but this (BlackBerry) and any tag I put in (fitness) gives me an error:
503 Service Unavailable
No server is available to handle this request.
I’m still confused and don’t know how this ‘hash tag’ thing really works!
Aren’t all words searchable in a tweet. What is the advantage in using tags if all words are searchable?
Whew. Now I can sleep at night. Thanks for expounding on this!
Holy Cow that was helpful!!! I have been looking for an explanation for months and google finally spit you out! Thank you thank you thank you. Now I can sleep in peace (I just got use to the @ stuff… even though thats basic).
Quintins last blog post..NDH Broadcast 3.22.9 [Topic: Fashion]
You’re very welcome Quintin! Glad it helped you out.
Thank you! I also just googled “twitter hash mark” – and you’re the top hit. Thanks for a clear and detailed explanation!
Alisons last blog post..33) Make like a V-neck…
This was so helpful! I’ve been wondering what the hashtag was for and how to use it.
Thx this will help me a lot, now I know how to use twitter.
dropshippings last blog post..Dropshipping über eBay
Aack, thank you! This was majorly helpful. I hope you’re getting good karma constantly….
hey great article, can anyone recommend me a good app for SEO?
My first glance at twitter’s hash marks makes me think of channels in IRC…
[...] hash marks (#) to tag keywords in posts. Here’s a great explanation from Kristine Wirth: http://kristinewirth.com/that-mysterious-sign-in-twitterwhat-does-it-mean/. You can also “retweet” other user’s posts to share good info with your [...]
[...] [...]
you can use @tagalus (http://tagal.us) to get/set definitions for #hashtags – it’s the largest/oldest of the hashtag dictionaries
[...] hours ago That Mysterious # sign in Twitter…What Does it Mean? http://kristinewirth.com/that-mysterious... [...]
Thanks for this post, such a relief. So, with this new found info, I went and posted two tweets using the #
As it is, too many tweets are trivial. Tracking hash marks seems to be the ultimate test of Gresham’s Law – bad money driving out good.
Thanks so much for clearing this # mystery!! I just started on Twitter and couldn’t figure out the the # was. So I googled “what does # mean in Twitter.” and there you were. The number one spot! Thanks for clearing that up.
Ugh! Just started on twitter and already I feel so behind! The hashmark almost did me in, honestly. I feel like I’m back in high school with the cools and their own secret language.
Thank you for cleaering this up for me!!
That information was extremely helpful…i never knew what the # mark meant in the twitters.