Twitter has become an essential part of the job for any publicist working to generate buzz about a client. Hashtags are a way to engage and connect users with similar interests on a certain topic. After becoming so accustomed to the Twitter trend, a report on Boston.com this week states that Twitter officials may decide to abandon their signature handle and hashtag functions…but what does this mean in for PR specialists?
Twitter is now one of the leading social media platforms mainly because of its unique functions. Just after the Boston Marathon bombing’s last April, it only took minutes for the hashtag #BostonStrong to spread throughout the twittersphere, with people from around the world showing their support. That’s just one of many examples of the power of the hashtag. Since it is a publicist’s responsibility to get the word out there, hashtags have made it easy to group certain messages together so the user can see all results on that topic. Gathering news has never been so simple.
But in light of Twitter’s impending decision to ditch their famous symbols, it could prove to be a challenging task for publicist’s to connect their message with users who are interested in people, products, and promotions. We have become so programmed to using hashtags in every tweet in an effort to simplify search results with clever wording that without it, tweets may become bland and boring. Hashtags pollenate tweets as bees do flowers – they make them bloom and keep everyone abuzz.
