Comments on: Are Twitter Hashtags Useless?

By: Mike Volpe - HubSpot

Mike Volpe - HubSpot — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 17:44:51 +0000

I don’t think anyone at HubSpot would dispute the value of hashtags as a listening tool. I don’t, and I frequently use them especially when I am at events. Dan was trying to say that make in his article is that hashtags are not useful for expanding reach on Twitter – we have found that by using @HubSpot rather than #hubspot we tend to get better results.

By: Why Hubspot’s Conclusion About Twitter Is Useless

Why Hubspot’s Conclusion About Twitter Is Useless — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 11:28:10 +0000

[...] Smith followed up on the Hubspot post with “Are Twitter Hashtags Useless?”, arguing that hashtags are a “fantastic resource for marketers doing research on a topic or [...]

By: John Haydon

John Haydon — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 23:08:36 +0000

Stephen,

I noticed a Twitter search string that you, @lizstrauss, @geekmommy and others were involved in using #smgps.

What I liked about it:

1. Posts were numbered so that a stranger can follow the bigger conversation much easier.

2. Each post could completely stand on its own. That way strangers could also derive value just from one tweet.

I was thinking about your post during the day and I concluded that what limits marketing is never technology, but always creativity.

See you Friday!

John

By: @Stephen

@Stephen — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 11:49:47 +0000

Thanks for your comments, folks. I believe that hashtags are very useful, in fact, I am not sure that their full capabilities have been realized.

By: John Haydon

John Haydon — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 11:39:33 +0000

Stephen,

When I read this post from Hubspot the other day, I was like, “Isn’t it a little early to make any conclusions about Twitter’s marketing value?”

I see #Hashtags as “conversation aggregaters”. Marketing folks should think about the strategic role of conversations when they think of hashtags.

Jon also made an interesting observation: “preferring a power relationship instead of the more democratic conversation.”

Thanks for the brain food, Stephen!

John

By: John Panico

John Panico — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 08:34:28 +0000

Hastags are useful to me in a couple of ways. The number of topics and conversations that you can have is really infiinite. Put that in conjunction with the number of followers you have and tracking them can be quite the challenge. So hashtags help manage that.

In addition, hashtags let you participate in part of the community and can include you in a trend that may be truly going viral. When Battlestar Gallactica was still running earlier this year, I would check #BSG often to see how others were thinking and join the conversation.

You are correct in that sometimes you may not know what the hashtag means, although there is a sight that will tell you , but then again that is part of the attraction. Because people do ask about them, they can get people involved in the conversation who might not have joined otherwise.

Some hashtags are just fun. For example, I really enjoy #FollowFriday and love the story behind how it came about. The same can happen for anyone.

Currently, I check out the following hashtags regularly:

#HAHD
#Powerblogs

And I have wanted to create a hashtag for something not for profit that I would like to see go viral that would connect people.

So, I definitely see hashtags as being useful. at least to be they are.

Thanks for including me Comrade!

By: jon

jon — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 04:09:24 +0000

I’m with you. Dan seems to have a very limited view of what’s “useful” and is way too hung up on follower count at the expense of conversation. I mean, how canyou possibly write an article about marketing and hashtags and not mention “#skittles”.

Interestingly, his advice to use “@hubspot” instead of “#hubspot” mirrors @WeFollow’s approach, preferring a power relationship instead of the more democratic conversation on a hashtag.

jon

By: Jim Gaudet

Jim Gaudet — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 22:49:22 +0000

Currently I have no “real” use for hashtags, but I do see that they can be useful. To say they are not useful, I think would be incorrect.

By: Grant Griffiths

Grant Griffiths — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 18:47:59 +0000

Hashtags are far from useless. Speaking from my own experience, this last week we used a hashtag to follow a live conversation taking place during a webinar I was involved with.

Can they be used for marketing? Short answer yes. And why not? Once again, I go back to the webinar from this last week. The ability to follow a live conversation during a live event is certainly marketing. To day they are not still useful is short sighted and self serving.