Today, on a blog post, Facebook announced that they are rolling out searchable hashtags as well more features in an effort to play a greater role in real-time public conversations.
Not that you couldn’t include hashtags on Facebook before, they just weren’t linkable as it is on Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, or Pinteres.
From now users will be able to click a hashtag to see a feed of discussions about a particular topic. For example, typing a number sign in front of “beaches” or “dinner” will turn the words into a link that users can click on to find posts about beaches or dinners.
Starting today you can:
- Search for a specific hashtag from your search bar. For example, #FloridaBeaches
- Click on hashtags that originate on other services, such as Instagram.
- Compose posts directly from the hashtag feed and search results.
As always, you control the audience for your posts, including those with hashtags. From a privacy perspective, hashtags will work similarly to Facebook Graph Search. In other words, you’ll only see the comments that you’re authorized to see. So if you include a hashtag in a friends-only post, then your friends will still be the ONLY ones who can see it in a hashtag search. (And this is the main difference between Facebook hashtag usage and other network services.)
This is Facebook’s explanation behind the change:
Every day, hundreds of millions of people use Facebook to share their thoughts on big moments happening all around them. Whether it’s talking about a favorite television show, cheering on a hometown sports team or engaging with friends during a breaking news event—people on Facebook connect with their friends about what’s taking place all over the world. …
To bring these conversations more to the forefront, we will be rolling out a series of features that surface some of the interesting discussions people are having about public events, people, and topics. As a first step, we are beginning to roll out hashtags on Facebook.
Don’t have the Facebook hashtag feature yet?
Don’t worry! Keep in mind that Facebook is only “beginning to roll out” the hashtag. This means that Facebook gradually rolls it out for their users and it will take some time until every Facebook user will eventually see the change.
If you want to learn more about how to use social media to increase your leads, get more traffic and make more sales contact us and I will guide you through every step of the way.