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Twitter Hashtags for Vancouver 2010

Comments 16 by Rebecca Bollwitt

Many people have been wondering what the official Twitter hashtag for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games will be. To give a bit of background I’ll explain the purpose of a hashtag.

Every word on Twitter that is published from a public account is searchable on Twitter (see: search.twitter.com or Twitter Search in Plain English). When someone puts a pound sign or hashtag in front of a word that is a signal that it’s a topic or trend to follow. The most helpful usage is when you’re attending an event. Everyone at the event can say updates such as “I’m here at ABC Conference, it’s fun! #ABCconf.” Now anyone wishing to follow that conference can just search #ABCconf on Twitter and see all updates from attendees. Using the hashtag also makes the topic a link on Twitter so when it shows up on your Twitter profile, you can click #ABCconf and see all results under that topic.

Back to the Olympics… I’ve heard of the following being used when posting updated about the Games: #Olympics, #Vancouver2010, #Vancouver, #Van2010.

Trending AgainSince you only have 140 characters in which to post your update on Twitter, the shortest tag is usually the best. I’ll be using #Van2010 throughout the Games and I’ve heard a few others will as well. I’m assuming that #Olympics or simply #Vancouver will be trending on Twitter (meaning they’ll be the most-spoken terms throughout all of Twitter globally) during the month of February.

If you’re ever wondering why a word or phrase is a “trending topic” on Twitter, you can check out WhatTheTrend.com.

In Whistler, they have notified media that they can use #Whistler30 for news and updates. This means you can monitor #Whistler30 (using a Twitter search) to see all news coming out of the region. They have also publicized #WhistlerW5 for any media wanting to know any “Who, What, When, Where, Why” information about Whistler.

In Vancouver, social media reporters, indie journalists, bloggers, photographers and podcasters can tag their information with #TNMH which is the True North Media House. This is an independent collaboration of content producers who want to get their information out to a broad audience.

To specifically mark tweets as being Olympic-related, I’m going with #Van2010 for now, although more suggestions are welcome.

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You can follow all of my updates on Twitter @Miss604 and I’ve also created a list of Vancouver 2010 people on Twitter which you can follow here.

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16 Comments  —  Comments Are Closed

  1. Dave HuncherFriday, February 5th, 2010 — 12:29pm PST

    Please please please give Vancouver the full credit it deserves. There’s no better way to out yourself as someone who’s not from Vancouver then by calling the city simply “Van”. We don’t go around calling Surrey, “Sur”. #Vancouver2010 #2cents

  2. Miss604Friday, February 5th, 2010 — 12:31pm PST

    It’s really tough, I’d love to use #Vancouver2010 but sometimes there’s just not enough room. I’m thinking something will just organically take over… whether it’s #Olympics or simply #Vancouver.

  3. careful readerFriday, February 5th, 2010 — 12:32pm PST

    Dave: read her post again. “Van” is to keep it short because of that 140 characters thing.

  4. Lee LeFeverFriday, February 5th, 2010 — 12:38pm PST

    Cool, I’ve been wondering about this. I like how succinct #van2010 is and I imagine it’s semi-unique (not currently being used for some other purpose). I hope we’ll be able to meet up in Vancouver Rebecca – we’ll be up from 11th-26th. Cheers!

  5. Dave HuncherFriday, February 5th, 2010 — 12:44pm PST

    I understand the premise behind Twitter. There are other ways to shorten text. #Vancouver2010 will organically take over, and it’ll start with you.

  6. dan kellarFriday, February 5th, 2010 — 1:09pm PST

    ill be using #no2010 on my tweets!

  7. Tyler IngramFriday, February 5th, 2010 — 1:12pm PST

    I use #2010 & #olympics

    I mean, what other Olympics are happening in 2010 except for the Vancouver Winter ones?

    I like to use #van2010 too but don’t most people by now know that 2010 Olympics are here? Those on twitter I’m sure know at least.

    Less is more!

  8. Rich PearsonFriday, February 5th, 2010 — 1:21pm PST

    I would also suggest #yvr2010

    As for Dan, its a bit late to be against it.

    My 2 pesos.

    -R

  9. Dave HuncherFriday, February 5th, 2010 — 3:23pm PST

    Like war? Once it’s happening you might as well support it?

  10. Kemp EdmondsFriday, February 5th, 2010 — 4:24pm PST

    Come on Dave it’s a freaking #hashtag. Use what you want and enjoy the festivities! (You may need some hash to calm down, see Peter McMartin at Heineken House for further details.)

  11. BruceMonday, February 8th, 2010 — 8:10am PST

    #van2010 works just fine. I still remember a certain marketing meeting where it was suggested we use #vancouver2010culturalolympiad. It just showed how out of touch they were with social media.

  12. Mike BrowneMonday, February 8th, 2010 — 12:51pm PST

    This clears things up. I’m going with #van2010 for brevity’s sake.

  13. Dave OMonday, February 8th, 2010 — 9:59pm PST

    Great reasoning Rebecca:

    TNMH recommends using: #van2010 – shorter than #vancouver2010 and more accurate than just #olympics as a Macro tag

    Micro tags: augment #van2010 with tags specific to Publishing community tags: i.e.: #vo2010 for Vancouver Observer, #va2010 for Vancouver Access 2010 or Affinity group: i.e.: #tnmh #ORN -this helps others in your project to keep an eye on each other

    Personally, i also enjoy using descriptive tags and personal adjectives to add flavour to posts i.e. #absurd, #stellar, #hawt #drunk #lost

    More on this topic at: http://truenorthmediahouse.com/news-desk/tagging-sharing/

  14. silly readerWednesday, February 10th, 2010 — 9:31am PST

    please please please give (the name) “David” the full credit it deserves. there’s no better way to out yourself as someone who’s not a true “David” *than* by calling yourself simply “Dave”. we don’t go around calling William, “Bill”. oh, oops… 😛

    go, can(ada), go! 😀

  15. TedFriday, February 12th, 2010 — 3:16pm PST

    #OOOOO Thats it!

  16. PbranniganFriday, February 12th, 2010 — 7:06pm PST

    Short? #BC10

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