This is a random post. On a topic that only interests me because I’m slightly obsessive and a geek.

Hashtags: Are They a Twitter Invention?

No.

First, hashtags were first used in a Tweet by a user, who now happens to be a Google employee, not Twitter.

Second, this usage was not entirely original; actually, it was bringing a preexisting standard to a new medium with a slightly modified use.

Third, over time, the way many use hashtags on Twitter (and now all over including Facebook) has evolved as people like you and me use them. (Just like language evolves.)

The Creator

Chris Messina is the guy who first used a hashtag in a tweet. He asked, “how do you feel about using # (pound) for groups. As in #barcamp [msg]?” (The Tweet that began an era.)

This was August 23, 2007.

Although a great idea, it didn’t take off until the disastrous fires in San Diego lit up the Internet (including Twitter). Messina was an active evangelist for the hashtag and took advantage of the opportunity. Here’s his blog post dated October 22, 2007; in this entry Messina makes a solid case for the potential of the hashtag convention.

The True Origins: IRC

Messina’s Tweet suggesting hashtags was made on August 23, 2007. Two days later here wrote a long blog entry giving further explanation for the convention he’d proposed.

It occurred to me that IRC presents a proven model for these needs with its foundation on channels, and so that’s what I’m generally going to call them.

In this post he explains how the hashtag idea isn’t entirely original but is very directly based upon an preexisting standard from Internet Relay Chat—essentially a protocol for certain kinds of chatting online (mostly for geeks).

I’ll admit, I didn’t use IRC until just a few years ago, but the protocol has been around nearly as long as I have—1988. One useful feature of IRC is separate conversations in different channels (conversation topics/groupings). To enter a specific conversation in IRC, one would type the following:

/join #conversationtopicgoeshere

Twitter users, look somewhat familiar?

Messina’s idea was to be able to follow conversations on Twitter by simply having users preppend Tweets with the conversation topic…or the grouping for a conversation…or the “channel” to which the Tweet belonged.

While I fully credit him with the creation of hashtags within the world of Twitter, we must not ignore the idea (hashtagging) did not fully originate with him.

Evolution

Messina’s idea was to simply associate Tweets with a conversation. For example:

#christmas2011 I had sooo much fun shopping today!

But the usage has evolved to be more than simply a conversation title but fun/useful/additional information communicated in a very blunt way (and I’ve fully embraced this usage). Example:

Ten more pages and I head home! #cantwaittobehome #ilovefoodsomuch

In this instance #cantwaittobehome and #ilovefoodsomuch are not conversations to which this statement belongs. They’re essentially addendums, almost parenthetical statements but even less connected to the sentence.

Conclusion

The Twitter is an interesting piece of software with lots of potential; my intention is not to take away from the company. However, a common notion is that hashtags are a “Twitter thing”.

But, Twitter didn’t create hashtags, one of their users “created them”. And, he didn’t really create them so much as borrow them from a preexisting protocol. Subsequently the usage evolved and spread to other platforms as well.

btw, I’d love to hear other ways hashtags are used. I demonstrated two common usages that I’ve seen, but I’m sure there are others!