Twitter provides us with a comprehensive definition for hashtags - one most hardcore social media pros can recite by heart - and how they are used. But often when I'm teaching the mystical ways of the Twitterverse to the uninitiated, I find myself describing not just the basic definition but the different forms a hashtag can take. Earlier this year, I included a well rounded definition for each form and some examples of them as I was writing an official Twitter guide for my company. As Carahsoft social strategy evolves, these guides are already becoming an important aide as our social media team grows and we train more of our c-suite level employees on how to get the most from the platform as individuals.
Not only did I take the time to define these hashtags, but I've also implemented a style preference to coincide with each. You'll notice a big fan of AP style and journalistic brevity (given my background) and that carries over into the "Titles" section. Read each of them below:
Compounds
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Two or more words that have been
compounded into a singular hashtag. Like common compound prefixes, these
words should not be capitalized. The exception for this rule includes those
used in Titles. See Titles. Unlike
common compounds, no hyphens are necessary.
Examples:
#bigdata – Big Data
#cybercrime – Internet Crime
#opensource – Open Source
#dataanalytics – Data Analytics
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Initialism
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A group of initial letters used as
an abbreviation for a name or expression. All such hashtags should include
the capitalization of all letters. Exceptions include initials such as “of”
in the hashtag #DoD which is the abbreviation for the U.S. Department of
Defense.
Examples:
#BYOD - Bring
Your Own Device
#CIO – Chief Information Officer
#CISO – Chief
Information Security Officer
#DDoS – Distributed Denial
of Service
#GIS – Geographic
Information Systems
|
Singular
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All singular words, whether they
are nouns, adverbs, adjectives or suffixes, which are used as hashtags should
be lowercase. The exception for this rule includes those used in Titles. See Titles.
Examples:
#virtualization –
Virtualization
#collaboration – Collaboration
#mobility – Mobility
#cloud – Cloud
|
Titles
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As is with the AP styling of
publication titles, all composition, webcast and on-site event titles should
include capitalization for all principal words as well as prepositions and
conjunctions of four or more letters. This includes capitalization of all hashtags,
including those that are used in truncation. See Truncation.
Example:
.@Pentaho webcast today at 2pm ET - #BigData
Analytics for the #FedGov w/ #MongoDB. http://bit.ly/VrKrfr
#GovIT
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Truncation
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Typically embodies the
abbreviation of a word in a format which consists of only the first part of
the word. In Twitter hashtags, this often consists of multiple words
combined. These types of hashtags should normally be all lowercased. The
exclusions for this rule include unique interpretations, proper nouns and the
use of titles. See Titles.
Examples:
#digitalgov – Digital
Government
#infosec –
Information Security
#mobilegov – Mobile
Government
#opengov –
Open Government
Exclusions:
#GovTech –
Government Technology
#GeoINT – Geospatial Intelligence
#HigherEd – Higher
Education
#TechTalk – Technology Talk
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Varied Abbrev.
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Some hashtags include a mixture of
truncation and initialism style abbreviations. If the truncation precedes the
initials, then the hashtag should always begin with capitalization. If the
initials precede truncation, do not capitalize the truncated portion. Single
initialism followed by truncation should begin with a lowercase, followed by
capitalization. See Initialism and
Truncation for comprehensive style
descriptions.
Truncation-Initialism:
#GovIT –
Government IT
#Gov20 – Government 2.0
#EduIT – IT Education
Initialism-Truncation:
#CAgov –
California Government
#ITsecurity - IT
Security
#INgov – Indiana Government
Singular
Initialism-Truncation:
#eGov –
Electronic Government
#mLearning – Mobile
Learning
#oGov – Open
Government
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Thanks for reading!
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