Twitter Hashtags: Which Ones to Use – and When
You’ve seen them on tweets, no doubt. The hashtags. They provide a way to group and organize tweets, to bring them front and center, and to enable one to participate in a discussion with the Twitter community at large.
In case you’re wondering about using some, but not sure which, I’ve compiled a list from which to choose. There are some specific to writing and tech writing, and many more general in nature. Try them out! I’ll probably add more tags to the list as time goes on; feel free to suggest others.
What I truly love about hashtags, though, is that you can make them be anything you want. Maybe it’s a one-time tag that’s very long. Maybe it’s a vent. Can be anything. As I noted in a tweet several weeks ago: #possibilitiesareendless.
Take a Break
Sometimes you just might want to take a few minutes and breathe a bit. Or think about something else for a moment. If so, these tags are for you.
#quotes
#haiku
#sarcasm
#notsarcasm
For Writers
A writer’s gotta write. Or talk about writing. Or read something creative or pensive or thought-provoking or anything at all. If that’s you, here are some good tags to peruse.
#writers
#story
#stories
#poetry
#haiku
#poem
#micropoetry
#nanowrimo
For Tech Writers
Technical writing (aka technical communication) is a specialized form of writing. There are rules and methodologies specific to the field. These are some tags that tech writers might find useful.
#techcomm
#techwriting
#STC
#stcorg
#DITA
#ehow
#howto
Social Media
Here are just a few to use as a starting point.
#socialmedia
#Twitter
#Facebook
#LinkedIn
Tech
There’s always something to keep up with. Here are a couple of main topics you can search for.
#security
#privacy
Late Nights or Early Mornings?
There’s a huge difference between those that can jump up and run out the door by 5 am and those that function best in the evenings and are up to see one day become the next. I imagine that most people can put themselves into one of these categories. To find your kindred spirits, try out these hashtags.
#nightowl
#earlybird
How’s Your Day?
Whether you’re signing off for the day, or just getting started, or anywhere in between, you might want to check out these tags. One of my favorites before signing off at night is #goodnight.
#goodnight
#goodmorning
#goodday
#today
Greetings and Good Wishes
Want to celebrate or congratulate? Try these tags.
#happybirthday
#happyanniversary
#congrats
#kudos
#goodluck
#woohoo
#smile
On the Flip Side
Not everything always goes according to plan. When that occurs, these tags are for you.
#darn
#ohwell
#thatslife
Not Good
I’m sure there are variations of this tag. I’ll look for more.
#fail
Who To Follow?
Who do you recommend? Follow Friday started it off, I imagine. Every Friday you can make your suggestions to your followers. Anytime, you can use the #women2follow tag; I’ll look for others as well.
#followfriday
#ff
#women2follow
7 Ways to Keep Up With Trends
Two facts: we have to try and keep up with all the changes in IT, and we don’t have much time, if any, to do so. What can you do? Here are some ideas. They’ve been working well for me. Hopefully they will for you as well.
Blogs
Bloggers are out there in the trenches: finding information, presenting information about trends, explaining things and providing tips on various subjects. It’s always worth your time to review blogs. A good resource to find them is:
In fact, there’s probably an Alltop page for any topic you’d like to view. Just select your topic of choice and go from there. I’ve included some for different topics in my lists of links on this blog.
You can also make a customized myAlltop page and put your favorite blogs all in one place.
Also, check Ivan Walsh’s list of tech writing blogs. He also includes international writing considerations, so that’s something not to miss.
All hail Twitter! I can’t survive without it. I use it for work, primarily. I prefer to follow feeds that are packed with information and links to articles, or those that pass on information. It’s great to follow people that focus on a particular topic; their expertise comes through, as they have reviewed materials and chosen what they think matters most. So, I see it as expert advice delivered daily to my door. It saves so much time; I needn’t search high and low for information. An expert has done that already. All I need to do is review what they’ve posted. And boy, have they ever posted excellent information.
Twitter is my starting point for the day. It’s my morning paper, so to speak, and is a great way to jumpstart the synapses each morning. I enjoy perusing the articles and information that is posted.
eServer Technical Communication Library
Hello! This is a HUGE database packed with timely, thought-provoking articles. It is updated regularly. It’s a must-visit resource. I’ve signed up for their RSS feed , and try to check it each day, if possible. If unable to, I check it whenever I can. Sign up for the feed. Go there, go there, go there – and go there regularly.
There are a number of writing and other IT groups you can sign up for. Actually, there’s probably a group for just about any topic you can think of. I’ve got some listed on my profile, but there are plenty of others out there. Join some groups, follow the discussions, and perhaps chime in once in a while. You can set it so you get daily or weekly digests of discussions sent directly to your e-mail address.
Websites
Surely you’ll find websites you’ll want to peruse from time to time for information. Mashable is one that comes to mind offhand. It’s an excellent resource. Also, the W3C site is a good site to review periodically. No doubt, there are sites that one should visit periodically, at least. Plenty to see out there on the Internet, is there not?
Mailing Lists
Of course, there are always good ‘ol mailing lists. No explanation required, I believe.
RSS Feeds
This is, of course, another way to follow your favorite blogs and other items. It’s nice to have these in your back pocket.
…………………………….
That’s all I can think of at the moment. However, as you can see, there are ways to quickly review quite a bit of information for many topics. Happy reading!
On Writing and Finding Words
Now, I don’t know how other writers view the world of words, or all the letters and words available from which to choose when composing some sort of written material. For me, I always visualize words up in the sky, like stars, and when writing, I just reach up and gather some. Sometimes they’re easily in reach, and other times not. Depends on the word, I suppose, or the day.
If it’s a day when words come slow as molasses, just give up and make it an editing day. If it’s one of those days when words pour out like water out of a pitcher, type as fast as you can to catch as many as you can. Some will spill onto the floor, but you can’t worry about that. Just keep typing and don’t even think about editing. Just empty the contents of your mind onto the page.
Never underestimate the power of words, or their capacity to hide when you’re looking for them. Or for running out the door before you can catch them, for that matter.
These days, I look up and see something different than in years past. Between my desk and the stars, I see a band of words, videos, and all sorts of devices continually zooming by in a convoluting band. Kinda like one of Saturn’s rings, but spinning and moving fast. That’s the Internet; that’s all the information from all over the world zipping by in an instant. Every second, more is tossed up into the mix. Every second, someone pulls some piece down and uses it one way or another. It’s fast, and it’s a race. And everybody around the world is contributing and it’s continually changing. It’s so unbelievably wonderful to have all this information and sharing all around the world in ways I never would have imagined even a few short years ago.
I love it.
I’ve been off the grid here for the past couple of weeks for one reason or another. Now I’m back to writing. I’ll be composing something about databases and xml and that sort of serious thing, but for now, I thought I’d just let myself get sidetracked and see what words and thoughts came to mind. I think writers need to do that once in a while. Just sit back and pluck a few stars.
Well, time for me to toss these words up on the Internet. Let them join the mix and see where they go…