# Hashtag How-to’s

Today's topic covers some interesting information about the popular symbol used to mark keywords or topics – the hashtag and some ways to use it effectively.

Hashtag Origin

We all do remember that # symbol has been a phone button as well as a pound sign. The hashtag was first brought to Twitter on August 23, 2007 by Chris Messina, who stated: The very ephemerality of hashtags is what makes them easy and compelling to use in a fast-moving communication medium like Twitter.

Hashtag Platforms

Hashtags are being used more and more each day and in the nearest future may appear in all social platforms. Present supported platforms for hashtags are: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Google+, Tumblr and Pinterest. But the leading platform is still Twitter.

Hashtag Filtering

There are three ways to filter hashtags in Twitter:

• The "Top" option shows the most popular posts. It also includes posts from users you don't follow
• The "All" shows you every tweet that uses the specific hashtag in real time
• The "People you follow" only displays results from the users you are following

Hashtag Creation
Some hashtags became an inseparable part of our routine and their number is increasing with an enormous speed. Everybody can create unique hashtags, concerning company/brand, content of the message.

Hashtag Usage

While using hashtags in the message anyone who searches for that hashtag may find your post. In other words, hashtag becomes a clickable link, so it’s advised using hashtags in every message.

How to be more effective while using hashtags? Ok, tweets with hashtags get twice more engagement. But don’t spam with hashtags overtagging the tweet. It’s recommended to use 1-2 hashtags for every tweet, no more, as the tweet should contain less than 100 characters. In this case people, who want to RT, will have some space for doing so. It’s also proved that short tweets get 17 percent more engagement. And finally DON’T use long hashtags to be reached by many people.

Use hashtags properly and you’ll increase your online success!