In a not so surprising move, especially because it was expected and perhaps even hurried by the online community, Facebook has announced support for hashtags. Yes, the same hashtags that Twitter, perhaps Facebook’s biggest rival, has popularized. In a blog post today, Facebook has made the announcement public, making happy its huge database of users – more than 1.1 billion: If you’ve been using Twitter and know how it works, then it will be a pleasure for you to find the hashtags coming to Facebook. However, I’m sure that it will be useful even for those that will discover the feature the first time. Also, let’s not forget that Google Plus has also introduced recently support for hashtags. If you remember, the hashtags have been used for the first time in the back-then famous IRC (Internet Relay Chat).
Facebook hashtags: trying to catch up with Twitter & Instagram
Some of you might get lucky and be among those that will try hashtags. Facebook announced that they will become available for all users across the world in the coming weeks. Besides having a clear impact on the public conversations of users, the hashtag support is definitely going to be a big help for business and brands to raise awareness about their products and to further enhance the connection with their clients. Facebook is even putting together a few basic advises for those that want to use the hashtags in the promotion of their business. As suggested in the picture above, the hashtags will be heavily used especially during important events, such as sport matches. Therefore, you will be able to search for a specific hashtag straight from your search bar. Let’s say, #uclfinal (UEFA Champions League Final). And by clicking on that very hashtag, users will see what others think or share about that topic. Furthermore, you will also be able to compose posts from hashtag feeds and even search results. Facebook is clearly trying to borrow some features from Twitter that it considers vital for the advertising/business/brand side of the social network. Not so long ago, the company has also launched Verified Pages and Profiles, trying to provide authenticity for pages and profiles. And it makes a lot of sense – there are so many fake Johnny Depp pages out there that you really want to know who’s the real thing. The Menlo Park company will also add later on analytics about trending hashtags and deeper insights so you could discover what’s important or hot at the moment. So, are you ready to start using #hashtags or not?
