So I’m sure you have all noticed the latest weapon for engaging a real-time TV audience: Twitter Hashtags. Many viewers are asking themselves what the point is, and what it means to them.
Let’s start from the beginning. What is a hashtag and where did it come from?
Well The # symbol, called a hashtag, is used to mark keywords or topics in a Tweet. It was created organically by Twitter users as a way to categorize messages. People use the hashtag symbol before a relevant keyword or phrase (no spaces) in their Tweet to categorize those Tweets and help them show more easily in Twitter Search. You can click on a hash-tagged word in any message and you will then be shown all the other Tweets marked with that keyword. Hashtags can occur anywhere in the Tweet – at the beginning, middle, or end and when a certain hashtag is used by enough people on Twitter it then becomes a Trending Topic and is shown on the left hand side of the Twitter homepage. @Chrismessina is credited with being the very first person to use a hashtag on Twitter (August 23rd 2007). However, it took two years for Twitter to begin to hyperlink hashtags, and another year for them to add trending topics to it’s Home Page.
The American TV channel, Comedy Central then jumpstarted the trend during the Comedy Central Roast of Donald Trump, where they used the hashtag #Trumproast. It went on to be used more than 27,000 times on Twitter during the show (Aired March 2011)
In February 2012, Channel 4 jumped on the bandwagon and aired an episode of Dispatches, the episode focused on ticket agencies and some of the underhand practices they employ. It sparked a major buzz, powered by the fact that Channel 4 flashed #TicketScandal on the screen throughout the show. It racked up 12,000 tweets in 24 hours, and packed out three of the top trending topics that evening. Not only did the provided hashtag trend, so did “Viagogo” (One of the companies mentioned) And the title of the show, “The Great Ticket Scandal”.
Channel 4 have now taken it one step further and launched a new TV channel based on “Social Media Buzz” called 4seven. 4seven aims to schedule the main channel content that is creating noise amongst all platforms of social media, bloggers and commentators and incorporate this buzz into the look and feel of the channel.
At first glance it is confusing as to why TV programs would want you to look anywhere other than the screen, arguably being online while watching a show takes away from actually watching the show. Most people do not give their full attention to the TV, which means Hashtags only make viewers engage more with the show as they have to pay attention to be able to tweet about it. Once a TV show’s official tweet becomes a Trending Topic on the homepage, more people will view it and therefore join in the conversation, thus extending the exposure of the show, before, during and after it has aired.
So why is it great for TV?
Well just think about it, people use Twitter to find people with common interests and interact with them. This is the perfect way to find others watching the same show. This works especially well for live shows such as The Baftas and X-Factor, and also for shows that are likely to spark a high level of debate, such as the Dispatches show. A hashtag can become a long term property and is something to invest in; with the Dispatches show, the conversation was still going on weeks later.
It can encompass a thought, mark the punchline for a joke or hurl us into conversation with thousands of others. The hashtag allows you to show the world your thoughts on a particular matter.
What makes the hashtag so powerful is making viewers think, “There is a conversation happening about this right now and I could be a part of it”. Using hashtags on TV turns a solo experience into a social experience.