Interesting discussions going on about the use of the BBC's Twitter hashtag for this week's budget. Rather than using the #budget hashtag the Beeb went for #BBCBudget. There is an explanation of why the BBC made that decision.
And over at the Online Journalism Blog, Paul Bradshaw has provided a great overview of the issue and issues involved.
It's an interesting debate especially as the use of hashtags on Twitter seems, in some ways, to be in its infancy - ie for big events there will be a range of related hashtags (not neccessarily just one).
For many people using Twitter, hashtags just do not feature in what they do so I like the idea the BBC might be helping raise the issue . . .
I'd also like to think that we did a little public service in reaching out to a broader audience about the value of using hashtags on Twitter. Research shows that the vast majority of people never use a hashtag when talking about a subject. I hope the fact that our hashtag was promoted so consistently across the BBC during the day means more people have discovered what hashtags are and may use them in the future.
Hashtags are very interesting - they are the defacto way users organise their content. Be interesting to see how their use develops. The BBC is at least trying out different approaches.
