Katelyn S. Irons | Echo
In a move that allows the company to stay neck and neck with the growing pool of social media networks, Facebook recently introduced hashtags in status posts.
Similar social networks such as Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr and Pinterest have been using hashtags to connect discussions outside of friends.
Now Facebook is joining the fray of conversations, and, like other networks, these hashtags will allow users to click and search for similarly tagged posts.
"Prior to this move, hashtags on Facebook had little purpose other than to mock the feature," wrote ArsTechnica writer Casey Johnston, referring to Facebook users utilizing hashtags before the functionality was added.
The hashtag search feature even shows posts that were hashtagged before the release of the search. An example of the technology is this May 10th post by junior Zach Reiner.
(Screenshot of Taylor student Zach Reiner's facebook page from a May 11th Post)
Facebook marketing has also taken on a new facet through the use of the hashtag. While previously restricted to only utilizing "likes", promotionals, and paid-for ads, the hashtag is another way that marketers can tap into Facebook's marketing potential, according to ZDNet.
An average of 95 million Americans use Facebook during prime time television, according to the company. Many of these users had been switching to social networks such as Twitter or Instagram in order to have more public conversations."To date, there has not been a simple way to see the larger view of what's happening or what people are talking about," said Greg Lindley, a representative of Facebook.
But don't worry about conversations being too public. Posts containing hashtags will still be viewable according to privacy settings set by the user, according to Lindley.
This technology update still lags behind the auto-tag feature which Google+ just announced, which will auto-tag posts based on graphics and textual context for easier searches, according to ArsTechnica. However, Facebook assures its users that more new features are coming soon.
