#Hashtags - I think this is what I was after

I am still very much on a learning curve when it comes to Web 2.0. But when I was further down the curve and struggling for ways to track and aggregate things I wrote this post: Call Sign - Blog Sign?. The suggestion was that each blogger should have a unique-ish 'tag' and  then scan the internet (= set up RSS feeds) to aggregate everything using this tag. This way if Blogger A wanted to call his or her post to the attention of Blogger B, Blogger A would attach Blogger B's tag to the post. I still think this is neat idea.

But anyway, the #hashtags initiative by the Downtown Cartel does something similar for groups of people using Twitter. This is how it works:

1. Think of a tag - eg 'ruralnet'
2. Let everyone in the ruralnet group know you are using this tag for items that may be of interest to them
3. Get these people to 'follow' #hashtags on Twitter
4. As a 'member' of the 'ruralnet' group you can now include: #ruralnet in a Twitter item and it will pop up here: http://hashtags.org/tag/ruralnet/ together with all other Twitter items (irrespective of who posts them) containing the characters: #ruralnet

You can also take an RSS feed from http://hashtags.org/tag/ruralnet/ and pull this into your community website.

With all this in place the whole 'ruralnet' community can post interesting items to the ruralnet community website via Twitter. Cool.

See the #hashtags website for interesting ways in which this has been used to help coordinate disaster relief.

Comments

[Steve Bridger]

Thanks for this Simon. I've let this pass me by, but your post has piqued my interest.

See... we're all on that learning curve :)

[Dave Briggs]

Thanks for this Simon. So to start a new tag, I don't have to register it -just follow @hashtags and start using my new tag?

[Simon Berry]

That's right Dave. Worth checking first to make sure someone else isn't already using the tag you have in mind.

The other thing is that you have to be 'following' hashtags on Twitter for the system to work.

Regards

Simon
28/04/2008

[Mike]

Hi Simon

I've developed (and still developing) a system called "OneTag" - see http://www.onetag.org - which does (I think) what you're suggesting...

Hashtags never quite did it for me - I find Tweetscan (www.tweetscan.com) much more flexible, especially given you don't have to add anyone to your Twitter profile for it to work.

Anyway. If you want to trial OneTag, I'll be opening it up soon. Just drop me an email.

Cheers

Mike

ps. thanks to http://www.jenny-bee.net/ for pointing me to your blog :-)

[Mike]

Actually, one of my other projects - www.stufflinker.com - does elements of it as well :-)

Mike