The Hashtag Economy

• Tweet

• June 16, 2011
• 81 Comments

Hashtags are to the social web what emoticons were to Web 1.0 and TXTing. While both are forms of expression and sentiment, there is one subtle, but vital difference. Hashtags are not only part of online culture, they are defining a new era of communication on the Web and IRL (in real life). With over 140 million Tweets flying across Twitter every day, hashtags surface a method to the madness – the ability to group conversations into an organized timeline. But what started out as a way to index conversations in Twitter has now substantially altered how people convey, relay and discover information in and out of the popular nichework. The hashtag has also become an effective form of #selfexpression.

Identi.ca, a White Label Microblogging Network

• July 3, 2008
• 3 Comments

It’s inevitable. As Twitter experiences growing pains, new entrants will seize the opportunity to provide a more complete and open experience to communicating with, and at, the people you may or may not know.

Few will succeed, while others force evolution to inspire new features and capabilities in existing services.

The truth is that the Twitterati are frustrated, worn, and undoubtedly impatient. At this point, any and all alternatives are starting to look attractive. When you’re starving, all food appears appetizing, including the options that you wouldn’t normally consider consuming.