MANILA, JUNE 14, 2013 – The vast number of Filipinos who dote on Facebook have another reason to consider it their favorite social network. Similar to rival network Twitter, Facebook now allows the use of hashtags to allow users to add context to posts, designate particular words as topics, indicate that they are part of larger discussions, and allow Facebook users to be able to search for them easily and quickly.
The use of hashtags originated with Twitter, which has long made use of them to help organize public conversations and allow those searching for particular topics organized via hashtag to search for them rapidly.
Facebook is not the first network to follow Twitter’s lead in this regard. Google, which maintains the rival Google Plus service, announced in May that it was also making use of hashtags. Other social networks, including blogging site Tumblr, photo-sharing site Instagram and pinboard-style site Pinterest, also use hashtags to aid in organization.
In a post on the Facebook corporate blog, the company’s Greg Lindley cited the need for a simple way to see a larger view of what is going on and what people are discussing. He said, “To bring these conversations more to the forefront, we will be rolling out a series of features that surface some of the interesting discussions people are having about public events, people and topics. As a first step, we are beginning to roll out hashtags on Facebook.”
Lindley added that it is now possible to search for specific hashtags from the Facebook search bar, click on hashtags originating from other social networks, and create posts directly from the search results and hashtag feed.
