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SALT LAKE CITY — Hashtags are rolling out across Facebook, which will help users find and participate in conversations taking place every day.
Officials say support for the new feature will be available for a limited number of accounts but will be available to all users of the social network in the weeks ahead.
Those who are familiar with hashtags already understand their power to organize topics on platforms like Twitter, Google+ and even Facebook's own Instagram, and soon clicking and searching for hashtags on Facebook will highlight topics revolving around entertainment, holidays and breaking news.
"During prime-time television alone, there are between 88 and 100 million Americans engaged on Facebook — roughly a Super Bowl-sized audience every single night," said Facebook product manager Greg Lindley in a media release.
"To date, there has not been a simple way to see the larger view of what's happening or what people are talking about."
According to Lindley, the activation of the hashtags' functionality is the first step in a series of features that will bring discussions about public events, topics and people to the forefront.
What are hashtags?
Hashtags are simply words with the "#" symbol in front.
"Similar to other services like Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr or Pinterest, hashtags on Facebook allow you to add context to a post or indicate that it is part of a larger discussion. When you click on a hashtag in Facebook, you'll see a feed of what other people and Pages are saying about that event or topic."
How do hashtags work in Facebook?
Anytime a social network rolls out a new feature, it's a good time to review your privacy settings to see who you are sharing your content with. Here are some privacy tips to keep in mind as you use Facebook's new hashtags system.
Check your general privacy settings
On the top right corner of Facebook, click the lock icon. This will reveal a dropdown box that shows your "privacy shortcuts," including the setting that limits who can see your posts. By default, you can set all of your posts to be public or customize those settings based on your needs.
You can enter a hashtag in a status update, comment or in the search bar at the top. When you click on a hashtag, a window will appear showing the content for that query, which Facebook calls a "hashtag feed."
For example, enter the hashtag #Utah, you'll see posts of people and businesses talking about Utah. If you want to narrow your search, search for #Bountiful or #StGeorge, and you can discover conversations taking place about those localized areas. Want to discuss your favorite show airing on KSL? Enter #Studio5, #KSLAM or #DougWright, and see what others are saying in real time.
People saw the power of social media during the 2012 wildfire season in Utah, with nearly 500,000 acres consumed across the state. Most of those wildfires were given hashtags, and residents could stay up to date with the latest evacuation and safety information from local officials on Twitter.
Hashtags from content on other platforms like Instagram will work as well, says Lindley. If you share an Instagram picture with hashtags to Facebook, those hashtags will be clickable and show similar content.
The concept of hashtags originated in 2007 by a guy named Chris Messina, who wrote about his idea to organize and filter content on Twitter, and posted it to his blog.
#poll
Instead of official Twitter "groups" like some people were proposing, Messina said he was "more interested in simply having a better eavesdropping experience on Twitter."
Eventually, the hashtag was born, and quickly paved the way for social media users to zero in on a particular topic.
Review your friend lists
Creating lists for different friends in Facebook will give you the ability to choose what they see from you. For example, you may not want your boss to see your office rants when you use the #workstinks hashtag.
To look at your friends' settings, click on the "Friends" link on the left and review the permissions for each of the lists. Better settings for your friends lists will give you more control over who sees your posts and hashtags.
Facebook says more features will be rolling out in the coming weeks and months, including deeper insights and trending hashtags to help people discover more conversations.
Andrew Johnson is a multimedia journalist whose stories have been seen on ksl.com, read in the Deseret News and heard on KSL Newsradio. He now runs 24saltlake.com, a Utah news and information site.
