Hopelessly devoted to hashtagsCaroline GreenerMarketing ManagerAudiences North East

September 2011:

100 million active users

o Half log in dailyo 40% not tweeted in the

past month – just listening

o 230 million tweets a day

o 110% increase in tweets since January 2011

o Advertising is coming

What is a twitter hashtag?

Definition: The # symbol, called a hashtag, is used to mark keywords or topics in a Tweet. It was created organically by Twitter users as a way to categorize messages.

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Hashtags: helping you find interesting Tweets

People use the hashtag symbol # before relevant keywords in their Tweet to categorize those Tweets to show more easily in Twitter Search. Clicking on a hashtagged word in any message shows you all other Tweets in that category. Hashtags can occur anywhere in the Tweet. Hashtagged words that become very popular are often Trending Topics.

Example: Below, @newcastlepanto added the hashtag before the word "panto" in their message. The word is now a link to search results for all Tweets containing "#panto" in the message.

Case Study: OPERA NORTH #ruddyblogON

"I can only see it is a positive thing that the event organizers from Opera North are looking at ways in which theatre can reach out to new audiences in this digital age that we now live and realize that Social Media is the new grapevine for a younger audience.”

Magik City Blog

Case Study: #askacurator

"Ask a Curator brings together passionate experts from museums and galleries around the world to answer your questions on art, history and science.”

Case Study: #soirritating "Instead of trying to change the way that people use the platform, the #soirritating campaign builds on top of what Twitter users are already doing: complaining.”

•Who is it aimed at?

•What are your objectives?

•What are your first steps to making it happen?

•How will you evaluate success?

Devote yourself to hashtags…

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