Twitter’s added extras

Twitter usage has more than doubled over the past year and during this time we have seen the use of tagging become a great way to help filter the information. If you are unsure of how this all works then you need to know there are two types of tags currently being used: HashTags and more recently CoTags.

The HashTag (#)

The HashTag is a community-driven convention that allows users to give added context to their tweets. It was created as a way of grouping various tweets on a particular topic. This is great for business use as it allows tracking posts related to groups of interest.

Services such as Hastags.org allows you to track these groupings in real-time, while Twitter itself is now starting to integrate some support for hash tags using their own search engine.

CoTags (^)

A new convention starting to emerge within the Twitter community is the use of CoTags. CoTags have grown out of the need to identify the people behind your brand and the brand Twitter account. While #HashTags provide a way to track tweets topically across a large user base – ^CoTags create a way to associate individual tweets within a shared brand account. It gives your brand a sense of human interaction.

To keep on top of your brand message using CoTags there is a “Social CRM” called CoTweet. CoTweet allows multiple people to communicate through corporate Twitter accounts and stay in sync. It is definitely worth a look if various people within your business share the social media role.

Benjamin Nicoll is a founding partner of GoDigital Media, one of Australia’s best value digital media agencies, which provides up-to-date, affordable products and services for SMEs.