"I have, but not extensively. Your work is gorgeous!
"
[NETWORKING FOR INTROVERTS] Hashtags: How to Use Them Without Abusing Them
After @KristenLambTX decided to reclaim her hashtag, #myWANA, by announcing that she would block anyone who prescheduled tweets using it, I had to ask myself: Have I been abusing hashtags, too?
For those of you new to Twitter, a hashtag is a searchable keyword that you attach to a tweet using the pound sign. For example, this tweet by @advicetowriters uses three hashtags: “The first thing that distinguishes a writer is that he is most alive when alone. MARTIN AMIS #amwriting #writetip #writing” By clicking on any of those hashtags, you can view all recent tweets that include it.
You can find lists of popular writing hashtags all over the Internet. Some of my favorites are:
#FF (follow Friday)
#WW (Writerly Wednesday)
I used to think that my most egregious hashtag faux pas was my failure to use them. Then I did a little research. It turns out that @johannaharness started the #amwriting hashtag as a live chat. Each morning she would take roll call (and she still does), and a small group of writers would chat about writing using the #amwriting hashtag. They weren’t using it to post links to their blogs. They weren’t using it to promote their books. They were using it to talk about writing. What a novel idea! The chat grew longer and longer until it was running 24/7. But the intention of the hashtag—and all hashtags, really—was never meant to be the classified writing ads of Twitter. It was meant to be a chat—a conversation among writers about writing.
You may have noticed that many of the popular writing hashtags have “chat” in their title. For a more comprehensive list, refer to The Writer’s Guide to Twitter’s Week at a Glance of writing chats. But what is the difference between hashtags like #amwriting and #writechat? “Slow chat” hashtags like #amwriting take place all day, every day, while “live chat” hashtags like #writechat (which often have “chat” in their title, but sometimes don’t, like #bookmarket and #askagent) host regularly scheduled weekly or biweekly chat sessions (except #askagent, which is unscheduled). Live chats have moderators and often feature a particular topic of discussion and/or a special guest.
For example, #blogchat takes place every Sunday at 9 p.m. EST. While some hashtags have their own websites, others have a Facebook page where the moderator posts a link to the transcript of the chat for those who missed it. The easiest way to take part in a live chat session on Twitter is via a client like TweetChat.
Whether you join a live chat session or tweet using the hashtag of a “slow chat,” employ hashtags with discretion. It’s okay to link to a related article or blog post, but follow the 5:1 rule: for every link you tweet, post five tweets that contribute to the conversation. To get an idea of why this is so important, click on one of the above hashtags and see which posts interest you most: the ones written by writers eager to engage in conversation or the ones posting links?
Another suggestion was brought to my attention by @Janice_Hardy: Avoid using a hashtag on tweets that tend to get a lot of retweets. This may seem counterintuitive, but think of it like this. If I post a tweet that says, “10 Ways to Get Your Book Published NOW: www.10ways.com #pubtip” and 20 people retweet it, my own tweet as well as all 20 retweets are going to post to the #pubtip hashtag stream. So when you click on #pubtip, you’re going to find 21 of the same tweet. Pretty annoying, right?
Hashtags, like tweet-scheduling, are a wonderful Twitter tool that should be used but not abused.
What are your favorite writing hashtags? Do you participate in live Twitter chats? Which ones are your favorites?
Comment
-
Comment by Elisabeth Kinsey on August 23, 2012 at 2:12pm -
Okay, I'm going to look like an idiot right now, but I'm still not getting it. When I click on the hashtag, it only gets me to the original tweeting person, right?
-
Comment by Carole Avila on August 23, 2012 at 12:32pm -
I'm almost embarrassed to say that I only know that a tweet is 144 characters. I never knew what the hashtags were about or why people use the @ symbol I saw a book at Barnes and Noble called "Twitter for Dummies" and laughed. Now I might just pick up a copy! There's so much to learn about the internet, protocol, and the basic "how to's." It's intimidating at times but I'm glad to know that I'm not alone.
-
Comment by Catherine Stine on August 23, 2012 at 12:25pm -
Thi sis all very helpful. I feel as if I finally understand the fine points of hashtags, so thanks!
-
Comment by Danyelle C. Overbo on August 23, 2012 at 11:59am -
Great info, I have no clue how twitter works, so this is extremely helpful. I'm going to look up Writer's Guide to Twitter now. lol
-
Comment by Barbara Amaya on August 23, 2012 at 11:09am -
thanks so much, I am trying to learn more about twitter and hash tags are one thing I needed to learn about
-
Comment by Tyra Brumfield on August 23, 2012 at 10:37am -
Thanks for this article, Meghan. I thought that I understood hashtags and assumed it was for the purpose of live chats only. The popular thing on talk shows now is to post live tweets and to read them, hashtags and all. For example, the hosts will read something like "I've been depressed all day because my cat ran off with the neighbor's. #depressed, #lonely, #emptyarms, etc, so I became confused on its real purpose. Thanks for clearing this up.
-
Comment by Gerry Wilson on August 23, 2012 at 10:12am -
Very helpful article, Meghan. I'm one of those newbies to Twitter who has probably misused hashtags a bunch! I'm part of a relatively new group, Wordsmith Studio, that chats on Tuesday evenings -- #WSchat. The group grew out of Robert Lee Brewer's platform challenge back in April. Those of us who persevered through a whole month of learning how to build platform discovered we'd built a community of writers with very different projects but similar goals. We are about to launch a website, but meanwhile, you can check us out at https://www.facebook.com/WordsmithStudio.
-
Comment by AngryCat on August 23, 2012 at 10:09am -
Got 2 (or 3) twitter accounts - thx for reminding me to use them!
- ‹ Previous
- 1
- 2
- 3
- Next ›
Latest Activity
Jennifer Richardson replied to the discussion 'BookTrib Giveaway for travel memoir Americashire: A Field Guide to a Marriage' in the group Reviews and Giveaways"By now you have probably heard you DID win! Just mailing it out to you today. Hope you enjoy, and if you do, would be so grateful if you would write a review on Amazon or Goodreads. All the best! Jennifer"
Cassandra Black posted a blog postBook marketing this afternoon ... (FREE promo for Amazon Prime Members)
Book marketing this afternoon ...I hope your week is going well. I'm in book marketing mode this afternoon. Not enough hours in the day. Enjoy! Cassandra Black http://www.cassandrablack.com Latest…See More
Top Content
Badge
© 2013 Created by Kamy Wicoff.
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
You need to be a member of She Writes to add comments!
Join She Writes