Use hashtags on Twitter

A Twitter hashtag is a combination of a pound sign (#) and a word or keyword phrase without spaces. It is used to connect the same topics, themes, or contents. Twitter users can easily follow topics they are interested in by using hashtags.

How to create a hashtag on Twitter

To create your own hashtag, you just need to type a phrase of the form #topic. Since a hashtag begins with the # and ends with the first space, you should remember not to put any space or punctuation in the phrase. Otherwise, your hashtag won't work properly. 

Hashtags are not case-sensitive. You can add capital letters to make them easier to read. If you want to use an existing hashtag, make sure that your spelling is correct.

You should keep your hashtag short and easy to remember since Twitter only allows its users to enter 140 characters in each tweet, with or without a hashtag.

Once you decide your keyword or phrase, you need to check if it is already used. Visit Twitter search and enter your preferred hashtag into the search box. If you don't get any results, you can use that hashtag.

If there is any conversation around it already, you will need to revisit your decision and pick something that isn’t as frequently used. 

How to use hashtags in searching

If you click on a particular hashtag, you will be redirected to the search results page where you can see all of the other tweets that contain that hashtag.

If you want to search for a hashtag of your interest, you can click the search field in the upper-right corner of the page, enter the hashtag, and click the Search icon.

You can view trending hashtags in the Trends sidebar on the left.

Tips for using hashtags

• People use the hashtag symbol (#) before a relevant keyword or phrase in their Tweet to categorize their Tweets. They use a specific hashtag to talk about the same topic.
• You can add hashtags anywhere in your Tweet.
• Hashtagged words that become very popular are often Trending Topics.
• If you Tweet with a hashtag on a public account, anyone searching for it may find out on your Tweet.
• Twitter recommends using no more than 2 hashtags per Tweet as best practice. However, you may use as many hashtags in a Tweet as you like.