I’ve recently begun following more hashtags and lists on Twitter and thought that a post on how to find and follow the topics you are interested in might be appropriate.
Hashtags
Many people and events use hashtags as a way to connect a common thread or topic on Twitter without having to follow every tweet by the people using the hashtag. Hashtags can range from everything to tv shows, updates for conference attendeess & shared comments by other attendess, social causes, companies, business topics, etc. (see my definition of hashtags in my Twitter Tips & Definitions post)
Two of the hashtags I follow are #measure (analytics) and #UsGuys (social media/networking). I also follow a fun tag, #nerdshirtfriday, which is a hashtag people use to post photos of themselves in the nerdy/geeky shirt they are wearing on Fridays and others following the hashtag vote for the best shirt. It’s a sort of mini-contest every Friday.
One Twitter-wide hastag many people use is #ff for Follow Friday. Incase you don’t know what that is, Follow Friday is a weekly occurrence on Twitter where users recommend people/businesses/friends they think others should follow. It’s generally someone they are already following. Users send a tweet with the hashtag #ff at the start followed by a list of Twitter account names. One common faux pas of #ff is just sending out lists of names with no reason as to why they should be followed. You can find an example of this in my #ff (Follow Friday) post.
Twitter Lists
Twitter Lists are essentially a group of people on Twitter. Lists may be centered around a certain topic, event, etc. Lists, as defined in the Twitter Glossary:
Lists
Curated groups of other Twitter users. Used to tie specific individuals into a group on your Twitter account. Displayed on the right side menu of your homepage.
According to Twitter’s help page, How to use Twitter Lists #NewTwitter :
Twitter users can organize others into groups, or “lists”. When you click to view a list, you’ll see a stream of Tweets from all the users included in that group. This article will help you get started with some lists basics.
Note: you don’t need to follow another user to add them to a list; if you want to read a user’s Tweets but not see their messages in your main timeline every day, lists allow you to do that. Similarly, following someone else’s list does not mean you follow all users in that list. Rather, you follow the list itself.
Twibes
Another way you can find topics of interest, and the people talking about them, is to join a Twibe on Twibes.com. Twibes.com is a website of Twitter Groups called Twibes centered around a wide range of topics. You can also view Twitter Lists and add yourself to the lists or create your own Twibe or list.
What The Hashtag
If you see a hashtag on Twitter, and don’t know what it means, one way to find out is to go to wthashtag.com. The site is essentially a user-generated wiki of what a hashtag means. The page for each hashtag includes a description, stats, links related to the hashtag, and a list of Top Contributors (the people who use the tag the most).
Below is a screenshot of the #UsGuys page. Click the screenshot to view a larger version.
Have I forgotten a site similar to Twibe? Is there a service I haven’t mentioned? Comment below.