#Facebook: Now all your hashtags ARE BELONG TO US, Twitter

Facebook is adding hashtags to its service, in a move to channel discussions on the free content ad network just like Twitter does. Rumours surfaced in March that Mark Zuckerberg's cloud-powered ad giant would adopt hashtags on its website. Confirmation came via a Facebook blog post on Wednesday that it is now using the …

[Graham Marsden]

Big deal...

#whogivesafuck?

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Big deal...

#twitterslaywers

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Big deal...

who cares ? the child of that parent who called their offspring "hashtag". He cares!

[Dramoth]

Re: Big deal...

Aren't they the one who is going to be voted in high school to be a psychopathic mass murderer... starting with their parents and ending with the last person who laughed at them

[I ain't Spartacus]

Spot the difference

Instagram users view he world through urine filled goggles - pub-goers view the opposite sex through beer goggles - does this mean the 2 cancel out?

[Don Jefe]

Re: Spot the difference

The only way to validate it would be to take pictures of said opposite sex with and without Instagram filters then post them to Facebook and let the crowd decide.

[frankothemountain2]

#TheUnitedStatesOfIsrael

#F all of you spying aholz

[Phil O'Sophical]

Hash tag?

I always wondered who named them, since most folks in the US seem to call '#' a "pound sign".

Octothorpetags anyone?

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Octothorpetags

Be careful - keep making suggestions like that and you'll be getting a visit from Captain Barnacles and his lawyers sometime soon.

[Bakunin]

Re: Octothorpetags

"Be careful - keep making suggestions like that and you'll be getting a visit from Captain Barnacles and his lawyers sometime soon."

I would assume intellectual ownership is actually held by Professor Inkling.

[Richy Freeway]

#welcometoirc

[Seanie Ryan]

thanks

the only good thing to come out of all this , is that the general public now knows that the # is a hash.

Always annoyed me when trying to get people to type it and being asked what a hash is and then, when they see it saying ' oh, you mean the box sign'

next, can we educate people that a colon is NOT a 'double dot"

bootnote: i think it would be much better if we called them ^hattags , maybe i should patent that.......

[Swarthy]

Re: thanks

the fist use of the proposed ^hattag: ^AndStick.

[h3]

Re: thanks

I think the perl definition of hash is more interesting. Lots of people don't get perl though.

Depends where you are and in what context what # means.

[Destroy All Monsters]

Re: thanks

http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/A/ASCII.html

#: Common: number sign; pound; pound sign; hash; sharp; crunch ; hex; [mesh]. Rare: grid; cross­hatch; oc­to­thorpe; flash; square;, pig-pen; tic­tac­toe; scratchmark; thud; thump; splat .

[Anonymous Coward]

Hide by hashtag would be nice.

I care not for your #children, #dinner or #gameofthrones.

[Mike Brown]

if this is a new thing....

why have i seen numerous posts with hashtags for weeks? is it just morons not realising they didnt work on facebook? or will this new hash-taggery be back dated?

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: if this is a new thing....

I think it's just that (mostly) people are idiots

[Mark Broadhurst]

Re: if this is a new thing....

Its clients like tweetdeck which can update twitter and facebook at the same time so there's some bleed over.

[LesB]

Re: if this is a new thing....

Or people cross-posting from Twitter (various automagic methods exist)

[Anonymous Coward]

See, this is why I never use Twitter. I find the #s and @s to be highly annoying. Facebook, I am disappoint. Very disappoint.

[Mark Broadhurst]

Should that not be #Verydisappoint ?

[What's a handle? I'm not a kettle.]

See, this is why I never use Twitter. I find the #s and @s to be highly annoying. Facebook, I am disappoint. Very disappoint.

[jnffarrell1]

What if you consciously could legally designate a Remembrance Agent

Would it be Facebook, Twitter, Google or none of the above?

Pretty soon there will be dozens of Google Now knockoffs. Will you want them to collaborate in helping you or stove pipe everything they know about you and fail to share it with you or your designated agent?

[Dramoth]

Right...

I can see facebook taking a bit more of a backseat in my social networking in the future. I will simply maintain an account to stay in touch with friends not in my immediate area.

The beer is for the original social network zone... a pub.

[Shades]

I can see it now...

When Facebook get to rolling it out in your area, all your meticulously chosen privacy settings (mines as locked down as is possible from prying eyes... although not those in the NSA of course) will be steamrollered into once again being as open as a wannabe models legs at a private gathering of footballers!

[Spoonsinger]

Re :-Now all your hashtags ARE BELONG TO US, Twitter Zucktags? Bitchtags? Cashtags? Spafftags?

Well after much thought, (well not really), SpivTags.

[Paul 164]

Court proceedings?

I see this going the way of Apple/Samsung in the courts if Twitter has a patent on hashtags!

[Shades]

Re: Court proceedings?

Just out of curiosity, and a serious question, how could Twitter have a patent on the common hash symbol followed by an undetermined word or series of words? Surely they couldn't patent the hash symbol alone as (in pseudo-patent mumbo-jumbo) a method to curate messages from multiple accounts with the same subject? Although, given some of the stupid things that have been patented I suppose its entirely possible!

[Steven Roper]

Re: Court proceedings?

Except that Twitter is an actual technology company, not just a law firm like Apple.

[TeeCee]

Re: Court proceedings?

Except that Twitter is an actual technology company...

Of course, what's really funny about that is they're far less of an "actual technology company" than Apple.....

The reason they won't sue is that taking a 1980's vintage mailing list system and adding a 140 character limit to postings isn't patentable....

[Eddy Ito]

Facebook fun for Tweetles

I propose a new hashbang tag. Think of the hilarity that will ensue with the appropriate use of splat somewhere in that tag.

[icetrout]

Facebook = Myspace I haven't logged into Facebook for the past 6 months & never will again... it just plain sucks... Suckelbuger bite's the Big1...

[Shanghai Tom]

#braindumptag

As long as your #farkin #braindumptags stay #private to your #facebook #timeline and never appear on my #timeline I'll be reasonably happy, however if your #farkin #braindumptags appear in my #timeline and I don't know you then prepare for #mailbomb #warfare.

In otherwords, I do not want to see any #farkin #tags from anyone else that is not on my friend list.

[ecofeco]

Somehow seems appropriate

The two biggest purveyors of nothing finally work together to bring us even more nothing.

[Terryih]

#Obamabook

My Dear Register you’re not up to date. You mention the old #Facebook but this has long been superseded with #Obamabook

[Dr Patrick J R Harkin]

I am very disappointed by this.

As a grammar pedant, I feel I must point out that the phrase "it is now using the symbol to better organise content shared on the network." should of course read "it is now using the symbol to gooder organise content shared on the network.:

[TeeCee]

Re: I am very disappointed by this.

Er, that should actually read: "iz now use # for gooder find cat pics nd wot Wayne is up 2."

[Dr Patrick J R Harkin]

Re: I am very disappointed by this.

I bow to m'learned friend's correcter understanding.