Facebook joins the global conversation with hashtags. Starting today 20% of users will be able to use hashtags. The rest of us will see this new capability within the next few weeks. (Twitter, Pinterest, Google+ and others use hashtags. Here’s an explanation if you need to know what they are and how to use them.)
What about Privacy?
What if you don’t want your conversations to be public? If you’re concerned about privacy, you don’t have to use hashtags or you can compose your hashtagged-posts and then send them only to specific friend lists. Slate.com explains in their article:
Facebook users now have the chance for their cleverest and most newsworthy posts to go viral in a way that they couldn’t before, without the help of a lot of influential followers. Instead of being seen by, say, 20 friends, your [post has the] chance to be viewed, liked, and shared by tens of thousands of strangers. That might sound scary, but keep in mind it’s all optional—hashtags don’t change your privacy settings. So if you add a hashtag to a “friends-only” post, it will appear on the relevant hashtag feed only for your friends. Hashtags may be annoying, but they might also turn out to be surprisingly useful on a site that has never offered a good way to interact with the public at large before. ~ Facebook Is About to Get More Like Twitter. That’s a Good Thing.
According to Facebook, you’ll be able to search for hashtags, click on hashtags in other services, and compose posts from the hashtag feed. In addition, upcoming features will also include trending hashtags. (Here’s more from Facebook on using hashtags.)
CSU2013 Hashtag: #Cru13
My previous post this week was about the new Twitter account and hashtag for CSU2013. I recommend creating a friends list on Facebook (if you don’t have one already) for Cru staff and to start using #Cru13 in your Facebook and Twitter posts about US Staff Training to Cru friends. Let’s start a conversation!
Related articles:
- From Facebook’s newsroom: Public Conversations on Facebook (also source of NBA image)
- Facebook Adds Hashtags to Organize Public Conversations by The New York Times
- Twitter News and CSU2013 (an e4e post about the new hashtag for Staff Training, #headedformoby)
eQuipping for eMinistry 
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