HASH-TAGGERY: #Tips for #Tweeting!

One of the most common questions by Twitter newbies: what good is it for me to tweet something when I only have 20 followers?

The "hashtag" is the way to get your message to hundreds, thousands, and literally MILLIONS of people, immediately, in the next few seconds. Let me repeat that: by using the hashtag properly, MANY people will be able to see what you write, just a few seconds from right now. It's free. It's universal. That's why so many are using it, in a variety of ways.

The "hashtag" (otherwise known as the "pound sign", the "tic-tac-toe" sign, or just the "#"). It's the first character used when you're looking to search or index on a specific topic, subject, person, place or thing of interest, hopefully to many others in theTwitterverse. It's become the most talked about aspect of Twitter itself.

So, I'll list just a few of the popular hashtags i've seen, and I will begin suggesting others to visit this page to add their own suggestions of other successful hashtags.

HELPFUL HASHTAG HINTS (list updated June 8, 2012):

#yankees (or a # followed by the name of any other major sports team, for example: #mets, #angels, #tigers, #giants, #jets, #heat, #rangers, etc. etc. Suggest ones you have had lots of success with, and I'll add'em)

#social media, or #socmed, or #sm

#cars (or any specific make like #miata, #toyota, #jeep, #bmw, etc.)

#ladygaga (or any major performing artist from the present or past, like #rihanna, #beethoven, #davidguetta, #garthbrooks, #beatles, #justintimberlake, #pinkfloyd, #drake, #beyonce, etc.)

or ANY MEDIA EVENT you & others might watch on TV, like...

#grammys, #worldseries, #ncaa, #nascar, #election2012, #andersoncooper, #americanidol, #chopped, #oprah. Get the idea.

REMEMBER: not only will using a hashtag followed by a word or term allow you to see who else is tweeing using that same hashtag term, THEY WILL BE ABLE TO SEE WHAT YOU WRITE, as well. Once that realization sinks in, you will feel more empowered to "speak" to people hashtagging the same thing as you. Try it. Don't be nervous. Let me know how it goes.

TO THOSE ALREADY SUCCESSFULLY HASHTAGGING: Help us out here.

Use the "comments" section below and suggest other hashtags you've found successful or popular. Make sure to mention what city & country you're from, and I will add them them to the above list.

Thanks in advance for your help!

Tom Z