Happy Birthday Twitter

Over 10 years the world has changed dramatically and Twitter has been with us every step of the way. The famous hashtag was invented by Twitter and without this social media platform it would be a lot more difficult for consumer, brands, politicians and even religious figures to communicate with each other. Twitter allows us to directly contact anyone who has a Twitter account and by using hashtags we can connect with people worldwide. So how has Twitter changed over the past decade and what has been some of its most memorable moments? Let’s find out!

Hashtags are a massive part of Twitter, they are used to create trends, marketing and promotional opportunities and to help you to find and connect with others. Hashtags are a pretty simple tool, for example if you are tweeting about a sleep fact then a hashtag such as #sleepfact could be used so people searching for sleep facts are able to find your tweet quickly and easily.

However when you are using hashtags for marketing and promotional purposes you need to think outside the box and look for space in the market. You can’t use spaces in hashtags so you need to read and re-read your hashtags and use upper and lower case accordingly as you don’t want to end up with a hashtag which may come across as something entirely different. Here’s a couple of examples of when hashtags have gone wrong!

That time in November 2012 when Susan Boyle’s PR team where trying to promote her new album being released with an album party. Here’s a clear example of when upper and lower case should be used within a hashtag. Poor SuBo!

A common marketing tactic which companies use is adding a hashtag to advertising campaigns to encourage people to tweet about their brand. McDonalds is most well known for ‘I’m Lovin It’ which has been their tagline for many years now, however back in 2012 they opted for a new tactic among their twitter users with #McDStories, unfortunately the received a lot more negative feedback than they’d anticipated changing their hashtag to more of a bashtag.

Throughout the past decade, the world has been through some horrific trauma with numerous terrorist attacks including the Paris attacks in 2015, the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013 and the 2015 Sousse mass shooting in Tunisia. Natural disasters, the refugee crisis and terrorist attacks are utterly devastating but despite the hurt and sadness, the world has created an online community in which they support each other.

One fantastic example of online community spirit was during the November 2015 attacks in Paris where #prayforparis, #vivelafrance and #jesuisparisian trended among other twitter hashtags to connect with others and show solidarity. Worldwide, people were sharing images of Paris and showing their respect for the injured and dead, at times when you wonder what type of world we live in, seeing this overwhelming support really shows you what lovely people there are left in the world.

Amongst the many supportive tweets another hashtag started trending within the French capital, #PorteOuverte which translates to Open Door. This hashtag was used to offer refuge for those who needed a safe place to stay during the horrific time. Without Twitter, this community spirit and kindness would not have been possible, Twitter has created such a useful and powerful social media platform.

Whether you are one of the 320 million monthly Twitter users or not, you’ll be able to appreciate the good which comes out of the social media platform. Twitter is a fantastic communication tool which can be used for humour, support or brand awareness, whichever way you look at Twitter has grown with the world and for that we thank you Twitter!