Community Corner

Hashtags Go Live on Facebook — #LosAltos

The rollout started Wednesday and will be live across all of Facebook in the next few weeks.

You know those "#" symbols that pop up all over social media? You might know it as pound or the number sign, but the kids are calling it the hashtag. Until Wednesday, they had been completely useless on Facebook, but that's all changing. 

Hashtags are used on Twitter and Instagram to track conversation topics. For example, a Twitter user could write "Man, I love the Backstreet Boys. #1999" The "#1999" then becomes clickable and brings up a list of every other tweet using that hashtag — a virtual conversation about the year 1999. 

The habit has crossed over to Facebook in the last year or so, but merely as a fad, not as a useful tool. But starting June 12, that is all changing. Facebook has begun rolling out its new hashtag feature. According to ABC News, just like on Twitter, "when a hashtag is included in a post, clicking on it will pop out a feed that aggregates others posts that have been tagged with the same phrase."

On Friday afternoon, Twitter users in Los Altos were using hashtags including "#makeover," "#FathersDay" and "#authorsworkisneverdone."

All Facebook users will not gain access to clickable hashtags at once. ABC News reported that it will take a few weeks for the new feature to be available worldwide. 

According to TechCrunch, clicking a hashtag will not show users' every post with that phrase, but rather only public posts and posts by friends.  

Will you use the # on Facebook? Do you think it's useful? Tell us in the comments!


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