#isthisannoying? #youbethejudge.
Recognizing the popularity of its use and citing the power a hashtag holds in organizing a conversation, Facebook finally launched hashtag functionality on its site in June. Users can now click on a hashtag to find other users talking about that topic, and businesses can strategically position a particular post to be captured by an audience under a particular hashtag.
#3monthslater, the use of hashtags on Facebook has been met with mixed results. Some marketers are touting it as a great tool: as it was put on Salon.com, Facebook has opened a "huge door" for marketers because of the increased ease of finding categorized content.
#ThatBeingSaid, a report released this month by Facebook analyst Edgerank Checker showed that hashtagged posts had no better chance of reaching its intended audience then a post that went out sans-hashtag. In fact, the report even showed a possible decreased reach when using hashtags.
#SayWhat?
I initially react to this in two ways:
- Well, Facebook users probably need much more than 3 months to adjust to using hashtags effectively. Just think back on all of the war cry statuses that people often post when unhappy with changes the social media platform has made to their pages.
- Facebook plans to rollout deeper insights that would reveal hashtag trends, much like Twitter, which can't hurt in helping the site's users implement Facebook #hashtags effectively.
Time will tell whether the hashtag trend on Facebook grows or fades, but in the meantime I can't imagine it being a bad practice to at least play around with. Perhaps you'll find the opposite results of Edgerank's study.
Besides, hashtags aren't going away everywhere — and, as this funny graphic shows — hashtags have been in use since the 12th century!
Need more help with your business' social media accounts? Contact Clever Dog Media Relations & Business Marketing.
No comments:
Post a Comment