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Ever wonder what the little “#” symbol in Twitter posts is all about? These symbols might seem irrelevant to the Tweet content, but they are actually quite useful. Originally created by Twitter users to help sort messages, Hash Tags now help locate specific keywords and topics of interest. This allows users find the information they are looking for while cutting out the excess unrelated posts that would result otherwise. Without the Hash Tag, the Twitter search function draws every post containing the words in a user’s search. The user may be searching for a specific brand, TV show, or topic and because of the nature of his/her search, he or she must sift through unrelated content.

Take for example searching for the E! show “The Soup”. If you just search the phrase, your top results will contain tweets such as “Sitting on a bench in the sun eating soup.” But if you search for ” #thesoup” you are more likely to get results with content directly related to the show, such as “That was the funniest episode of #thesoup I have ever seen!” The Hash Tag also allows potential customers to find information about your company and your services and/or products by narrowing the search results according to what they need. Therefore, by attaching hash tags within or at the end of your Tweets that are frequently searched, you can increase the amount of users seeing your Tweets.

Figuring out which Hash Tags to use can be a hassle, but it is a lot easier if you utilize websites dedicated to tracking and sorting searched Hash Tags. One such website is Tagalus, which is a simple dictionary of Hash Tags as defined by users. This will help you determine which Hash Tag is most appropriate to include in your Tweet and in what context. A second site that is useful is Twubs, which collects Tweets and other media on the Hash Tag searched to give a better picture of who is using the specific Hash Tag and what topics they are relating to it. The last website of interest, Hashtags.org, is used primarily for the tracking of Hash Tag usage, so that you can locate which Hash Tags are most popular on what day and and which time. By taking advantage of the services these three websites provide, you can determine which Hash Tags to use and when to use them, simplifying an otherwise confusing task.

Written by Ashley Delaporte