Facebook may be ready to follow Twitter into the weird and wonderful world of hashtags, according to reports late this week.
The social network is said to considering the introduction of the famous Twitter indexing tool to in order to help it make the recently-launched Graph Search engine more useful and efficient.
The company has already announced that it plans to index users’ posts within the Graph Search platform, something which has raised yet more privacy concerns and the presence of hashtags would certainly assist this drive.
A hashtag roll-out, already present on Facebook’s own Instagram platform and the Google network, would also allow the company to make more money from advertisements targeted to those tagged words, places, locations, etc.
Facebook has so far refused to comment, claiming “We do not comment on rumor or speculation,”
As well as providing site and app indexing, hashtags on Twitter and other networks have allowed users to contribute to popular topics and have their voices heard within the cacophony, but they’re also used as inside jokes between users and small groups, confusing some new users.
They’ve also been adopted by companies seeking greater exposure on Twitter and by TV shows looking to generate chatter during the broadcasts
Unfortunately, hashtags have become so popular, they’ve has also made their way into popular speech in recent years. If Facebook starts using hashtags, we can expect that to continue. #Lame.
Via WSJ
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
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We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
