Hashtag heaven
Celia Jenkins explores how writers can best use the Twitter social media platform
While many writers find social media an annoying distraction from their writing, there are certainly benefits to these platforms. Some authors find Pinterest a great place to brainstorm ideas and create story boards, while others find groups of likeminded people to connect with on Facebook. Last year, I joined Twitter to see what it could do for my writing life and I’ve been amazed at the results.
Twitter is a social media platform that allows users to network with people across the globe. ‘Tweets’ are the messages users broadcast online, now limited to 280 characters in most languages. Tweets can be ‘retweeted’ (shared), commented on or liked, and you can also send direct private messages to people you know.
Unlike Facebook (which for many people equates to little more than amusing cat videos and pictures of someone’s dinner), many people find that Twitter is a more professional platform – it’s less about socialising and more about networking. Twitter can be used to find out about writing competitions and events, to find and interact with other writers, and to keep up to date with your favourite authors.
One way to search for things on Twitter is by using a ‘hashtag’, which is a certain phrase put after a # mark. Hashtags are a way to connect what you’re saying to what other people have said about the same topic. While you can create your own hashtag, you’ll make more connections by using trending hashtags – popular phrases that everyone else is using. Hashtags are also used to connect people for live Twitter events – scheduled times when people ‘meet up’ on Twitter to discuss certain subjects. In this article we’ll look at some trending hashtags for writers and discuss how you can use them to enhance your writing experience.