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The Real Value in Tracking Event Hashtags on Twitter


Twitter Search and Hashtags
Tracking event hashtags on Twitter has grown a ton in popularity over the last few years, ever since Twitter exploded at SXSW. It’s easy to do using Twitter Search by inputting the hashtag for the event. It’s not a perfect system – sometimes there’s too much noise, spam creeps in, etc. – but it’s still a decent way of getting real-time news about an event. (Suggestion: If you use Twitter Search include “-RT” in the search criteria so you eliminate all the retweeting activity that takes place.)

But is the real value in following event hashtags about catching up on real-time news?

Not really. Ultimately people will write blog posts (w/ more in-depth analysis) summarizing the conference you’re tracking, and you can use that as a way of catching up. And as valuable as real-time data is, tracking a very busy conference is overwhelming and distracting.

The real value (and fun) in following event hashtags is discovering new people to follow and build relationships with.

Events are great for discovering intersecting interests. They’re great for seeing who is active in a specific field or around a specific topic, and because of all the concentrated Twitter activity taking place in a short period of time, you also get a good sense of who knows who and how people are connected.

In the last couple of days I’ve followed two events – Social Recruiting Summit (#srs09 + #socialrecruiting) and 140 Characters Conference (#140conf). During that time I followed 50+ people at least, and many of those people reciprocated. Each one was actively using Twitter, and I was able in a very short time to gauge their interests and value (to me as a follower).

Event monitoring via hashtags and Twitter will improve. I know there are companies working on how to distill the best information from hashtags (with the main use case being for events), so that you can track the best tweets in real-time and reduce the noise. That’s great, and I look forward to seeing those solutions emerge, but at the end of the day, the real value is in discovering people to follow with mutual interests, who can provide you with meaningful value (and of course vice versa.)



June 17, 2009 Posted in Online Community by Ben Yoskovitz

View Comments to “The Real Value in Tracking Event Hashtags on Twitter”

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  3. [...] stream (both from people I follow and those I don’t.) And the secondary goal is to help me discover new people worth interacting with based on the links they’re [...]

  4. Cool Gifts says:

    I agree that the real point in following event hashtags is meeting new people in your industry. I can't tell you how many people I've followed just from attending web events and whatnot.

  5. Is anyone else concerned about big brother using Twitter, like the CIA are using it to agitate the situation in Iran?

  6. Is anyone else concerned about big brother using Twitter, like the CIA are using it to agitate the situation in Iran?

  7. Is anyone else concerned about big brother using Twitter, like the CIA are using it to agitate the situation in Iran?

  8. [...] to catch up on news, but where does the real value lie?  Ben Yoskovitz explains how you can easily form new relationships based upon common [...]

  9. tooth center says:

    Ultimately people will write blog posts (w/ more in-depth analysis) summarizing the conference you’re tracking, and you can use that as a way of catching up. And as valuable as real-time data is, tracking a very busy conference is overwhelming and distracting

    yes i agree

  10. I've got no complaints about Twitter hashtags, always seem to be pretty accurate.

  11. munnar says:

    When I used to search in Bing.I found the twitter results are getting more advantage.Why the Bing including the twitter results and the results are not much impressive.

  12. zartworkdesigns says:

    I do believe that twitter is absolutely becoming more popular in search engines, the vanity URL alone is a great thing!

  13. Seonaster says:

    This is very interesting on twitter. Twitter develop a good plugin to search.

  14. Its nice way to again to search for people talking about a certain thing or topic.. and then you can follow them.. and find the latest news about anything. Sometimes you just want to play with it and get the talks coming your way by searching randomly.. its really nice and fun..

  15. maulana says:

    Thanks For Informations In your bLog…!!

  16. yojimbok says:

    Ya, its usefulness will definitely get better in months and years to come, but for non-work topics its big time fun :)

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  19. insuranceq says:

    NICE post twitter is my favorite one

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    Whats the best way to get backlinks to your website using twitter?

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  22. tile_cleaning_kansas_city says:

    I'd have to say that it is definitely cool to meet new tweeps via an event. You'll always have that event in common, and chances are that they're somewhat relevant in the space, worth following.

  23. tile_cleaning_kansas_city says:

    I'd have to say that it is definitely cool to meet new tweeps via an event. You'll always have that event in common, and chances are that they're somewhat relevant in the space, worth following.

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