How to use HashTags # correctly on Social Media Facebook Twitter

HashTags have become very popular on social platforms like Facebook and Twitter in last few years. They became popular with Twitter's 'Trending Topics' and are being used widely for discussions, debates and event promotions. 'Hashtag' word have also been added to the English Dictionary.

A hashtag is a term/label used on social platforms which allow users to find relevant messages associated with a desired topic.

Hashtags can be created by placing the hash character # in front of a word, it can be at the beginning, middle or end of message.

Searching for a particular hashtag will show all messages which are tagged with it.

Even after using them on regular basis, many users create the hashtag itself incorrectly, which means the hashtag was never created or associated with your message. These messages will never be linked to the hashtag. Statistics show that more number of people on Twitter use hashtags correctly whereas the case is different when it comes to Facebook or Google+.

So lets focus on few examples of hashtags with Facebook.

Here user wants to create a tag for every word in message but clutters everything together without leaving spaces between each #. Also note, how the user knows which tag is actually resolved while creating the message but ignores it.

this is #incorrect#way#of#using#facebook#hashtag

Here user wants to create 3 tags in the message and leaves required spaces between each #. Also note, how the user knows which tag is actually resolved while creating the message.

this is #correct #way of #using #facebook #hashtag

1. Use the # symbol before the keyword to create a hashtag.
2. Few platforms like Twitter gives you suggestions for matching tags when you are writing the message, use them.
3. Use spaces to segregate multiple hashtags.
4. Restrict 2-3 tags per message, do not go over this.
5. Do not create a hashtag for every word in your message.
6. Do not leave a space if the hashtag should be more than 2 words, this will create a tag only for the initial part. Example - #Code2Care will create a tag 'Code2Care', but #2 Care will create a tag 'Code' only.
7. Do not use very long words for hashtags.
8. # followed by a number or special character will not work. It needs to start with a letter.
9. Non-English characters also work for hashtags. Example #भारत will create a tag 'भारत'.
10. Do not use your own name as a tag, it might be of less importance.
11. Hashtags do not work with WhatsApp.
12. Use correct hashtags for your messages so that your message shows up when someone searches for the hashtag.

Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hashtag

Twitter - https://support.twitter.com/articles/49309-using-hashtags-on-twitter