Ask people to define a hashtag and you’ll hear \u201cmarketing or advertising tool\u201d more than you should. After all, every billboard and banner has a hashtag and every Web marketer will tell you a hashtag is worthless if not trending.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s the simple Twitter definition of a hashtag: any word or phrase preceded by the # symbol. Click on it, and you get other tweets with the same keyword<\/a>.<\/p>\n Twitter wisely leaves the rest to our imaginations. In the hands of others, a hashtag has become so much more than a descriptor. It\u2019s also a conversation starter, a word game, a form for irony, self-commentary, and inner monologue<\/a>, as well as a powerful advertising tool. The hashtag celebrated its tenth anniversary on August 23rd<\/a>.<\/p>\n Chris Messina, a Web marketer who worked outside of Twitter, pitched the innovation to Twitter founder Biz Stone little more than a year after the 140-character application\u2019s debut. Messina altered someone else\u2019s platform\u2014irreversibly and for the better\u2014with a simple stroke of the number (#) symbol. Not since the at (@) symbol has a sign on the keyboard moved so quickly from unpopular to essential.<\/p>\n https:\/\/twitter.com\/chrismessina\/status\/223115412<\/p>\n I use a hashtag to convene the voices in my classroom. I teach completely online, outside of any learning management systems like Blackboard or Moodle<\/a>, for the graduate interactive media program at Quinnipiac University. For seven years now, I\u2019ve asked the question, can we create good seminar dialogue using online networks and written words only?<\/p>\n We can, and we do. In my class, a hashtag isn\u2019t an advertising tool. It\u2019s a discussion tool.<\/p>\n The course number is 506. The name of my blog for my section of the course is The Interactive Voice<\/em>. The hashtag my students use to identify and step into my classroom\u2014#506iv\u2014is like a room number that gathers everyone together<\/a>.<\/p>\n