Error In Syntax

I’ve noticed a disturbing trend lately involving the way people use mentions (@) and hashtags (#) on Twitter and I would feel like I didn’t do the community a service if I didn’t mention this. I’m not a self-proclaimed “social media expert”. I’m not a marketing genius. I am, however, a long and avid Twitter user. I have been on the service since February 2007. I remember when @ replies weren’t supported. I remember when you used to have to go to a separate website in order to view hashtag trends. I have watched the evolution of Twitter and have seen the way user-driven initiatives have affected the service. Therefore, I feel like I can speak somewhat authoritatively on the subject of when it is appropriate to use these functions, and when it is not.

Mentions

History

I still remember when these nifty little things were in their infancy. I remember when it was just starting out and you would put @rob at the front of a tweet if you wanted to reply to your friend Rob, even though his screen name was likely not Rob. As Twitter grew, this was no longer possible, of course. And slowly, Twitter began to incorporate @s into the service, first just as replies, then later as mentions.

How they are used

To properly use a mention on Twitter, you will first want to ask yourself “is this something that I want the person (or organization) that holds the account to see?”. Or, more importantly, is this something they need and want to see. Said another way, these are meant to be a conversation with the account holder. You want them to know you tweeted this and/or you want them to respond. The most obvious case is when you want to reply to someone’s message. Most Twitter clients and even the website have this feature built in nicely. The other case would be, perhaps, when you want to get the attention of a person or company. For instance, if I wanted to tell my friend Dan that I got the concert tickets for us, I might tweet something like “Hey @danielslaughter, I got those tickets!”. Or maybe I just bought a new pair of jeans from the Gap and I want to tell them how great they are: “Just picked up a really sweet new pair of jeans from @gap”.

When to not use them

You should not use mentions when you are talking about a subject and you want to group these messages together, even if the subject is an organization that has a Twitter account. We will talk more about this when we discuss hashtags, but here is an example of how not to use mentions: “Man, that writing exam was hard! @gvsu”. In addition, you should not include a mention in a tweet that has nothing to do with the subject. For instance, even though I am a member of the @gvwebteam, I don’t need to include this in every tweet. You should not do the following: “Going out to the bar to get wasted. @gvwebteam”. Not only is that a good way to annoy people, but it is also a good way to get fired!

Hashtags

History

Hashtags have also been around for a very long time, though they are just now becoming popular among Twitter users. Hashtags were originally used to pull in tweets to a 3rd party site where people could go and search for tweets about a particular topic. This really helped users to find information about a topic they were interested in and for organizations to group all the chatter about their event in one place. Adoption was slow at first, but once Twitter started to include these in the service, they became highly popular and are used quite frequently today.

How they are used

Hashtags should be used when you are talking about a topic or want to group the conversation about something in one place. Even if you are talking about an organization or person that has a Twitter account, if you do not directly want that account to be notified or they will not find anything useful in the notification, you should use a hashtag. For instance, if I was going to Bonnaroo, I might want to tweet “Heading to #bonnaroo! Can’t wait!”. This way, people who are searching for #bonnaroo will find my tweet. In addition, people who follow me can click on that hashtag and see others who are talking about that subject.

When to not use them

Obviously, based on what was said above, hashtags shouldn’t be used when you want to directly mention someone and want them to be notified. For instance, if I wanted to tell my girlfriend how much I enjoyed spending the day with her, I wouldn’t want to put: “Just had a wonderful day with #annethel!”.

I hope this little summary of mentions and hashtags helped those who are confused about the subject. We should all try as best as we can to adhere to these standards that have been established by the users and are encouraged by Twitter. In this way, we can make Twitter useful, organized and, most of all, fun! If you feel like I have made an error above, have any questions about this subject, or just want to provide your own input to this subject, feel free to comment below!