Step 4: All about Hashtags and Twitter chats

 Step 4: All about Hashtags and Twitter chats
You will dive deeper into Twitter, looking at how educators use Twitter chats and Hashtags to learn and connect.
What are Hashtags?
Before we begin explaining Twitter chats, we break down Hashtags which are an important part of Twitter. A hashtag is written with the # hash (pound) sign and is used to index keywords or topics on Twitter. Putting a hashtag symbol (#) in front of a relevant keyword or phrase helps to categorize the tweet and make it easier for people find. Hashtags can be used anywhere in a Tweet. They can replace a word as demonstrated below, or just be tacked on the end of a Tweet. When you click on the Hashtagged word or phrase (e.g. #podcasts) a new page will load with tweets from everyone who is tweeting about podcasts— whether or not you follow those people. Note that Hashtags can not have any spaces so math chat becomes #mathchat.
What Hashtag should I use?
You can use any hashtag you like, however, if it is not being used by others then people will not be following it or searching for it. So to get the most out of Hashtags, you should usually use ones that others are using. Note that hashtags are not created by Twitter, but by Twitter users. Often if there is an event going on, the organizers will publish the official hashtag on the conference materials and social media. For example, when ISTE 2018 was happening, ISTE tweeted out the official hashtag:
ISTE 2018 Official Hashtag
Following Hashtags