Speed Guide To Social Media Hashtags [Infographic]

More and more social networking websites are incorporating hashtags into their service. As we all know, Twitter was the social networking service that made the hashtag popular. Many people don’t seem to understand the immense impact hashtags could have on your interaction on any social networking service where they are utilized. It’s not just a way to mark your shared updates and content, it could also spawn a huge increase in interaction. This speed guide to social media hashtags should put you on the right track.

So what is a hashtag and how would you explain its usage? Well, as explained in this infograpic called What You Need To Know About Hashtags, presented by Online Circle, a hashtag is a word or expression prefixed with a hashtag symbol. It was created to make it easier for large groups of people to communicate with each other. Contrary to common belief, Twitter was not the social networking service where hashtags were “invented,” they were actually used within IRC networks to label topics and groups.

As this speed guide shows, hashtags have become increasingly popular since Twitter users made them a household name. Now, not only social networking services utilize the hashtag to aid group communication, but also websites like Kickstarter, YouTube and Fetchnotes have them as a feature. There will no doubt be even more websites utilizing them in the future since it is truly a magnificent way to add group communication into a service that is otherwise based on person to person communication.

According to this speed guide, the United States stands as the top country where hashtags are used the most. Surprisingly, Brazil comes in second and third is the United Kingdom. It is rumored that Facebook will be adding the hashtag soon to their social networking service. This speed guide outlines that as well. The important thing to take away from this infographic is to realize that you can embrace hashtags in your daily social networking usage. It could potentially increase your interaction with the world many times over. A hashtag could be the difference between a non successful and a viral status update or campaign. It’s something that a lot of companies and brands have come to know throughout the years.