How to Use Twitter Hashtags

Twitter Hashtags are a great way to allow for live public commenting on any event or team.

You may want to use this for rounds or other live meetings while they are in session.

How it works..

The way it works is that an event host can specify a unique text string or "hashtag" for their event such as "#neuromeeting2012" in the edit section of the event. Our servers then will search Twitter's vast database for recent tweets that have a string in them that matches that hashtag and place the most recent of them in the sidebar of the page of the event or team. This live commenting gets updated automatically as new tweets come in.

If you are an Attendee

Click on the "tweet a comment" link and you will be forwarded to Twitter. A copy of the events hashtag will already be set up in you message once logged in.

Remember anything you tweet about on this page is a matter of public record. Only tweet stuff that is safe and appropriate to tweet. See some examples of appropriate tweets below. If you want to engage in a more private conversation with the hosts and members of this page talk to the event host about signing you onto the chat bulletin board. Every event has one.

Tweeting only works if you are a member of Twitter and if your Twitter account is a publically visible account. Private tweeters' tweets are private naturally so if you are on twitter but you maintain a private account this service will not work for you.

Example of appropriate tweets (and why we think Twitter can help for live events)

• "Hey the live video isn't working for this presentation - did you set the URL correctly?"
• "Tell the presenter to speak up or turn up the mic please. We can't hear online"
• "I am watching from a remote location - how do i submit a question!!"
• "It would be great if the presenter posted their slides to this page after the presentation"
• "Here is a link to a team that is working on the same issue.. www.somelink.com check it out too"
• "Can you make sure the URL for the presenter's organization is added to the page as a link"
• "After the meeting there will be a focus session in room X on subject Y"

If you are a Host

If you are an event or team host you can turn on hashtag support by editing the event or team and activating the twitter function in the edit window. If it is for an event we recommend editing your event just before it starts to turn on hashtag visibility. Then when the event is over you should re-edit the event to turn hashtag visibility off. This is so that no-one can post prank comments when your event is over.... Well they still can actually its just that they won't show up on your page if you have turned off the hashtag visibility. Remember Twitter hashtags are open and worldwide so only use hashtag commenting for informal polling on no-sensitive subjects and positive helpful comments such as the ones featured above.

More Tips

To improve specificity and avoid spam make sure your hashtag is relatively unique.

A tag like #neurology is going to pull in comments matching "neurology" from tweeters all over the planet including a few you probably don't want appearing beside your great content.

A hashtag like #neurologymeeting2012 is probably going to better ensure that the tweets we pull in are specific to your event.

Hashtags including punctuations or spaces like "# neurology.meeting- +2012!" will not work. A hashtag must be alphanumeric with no spaces and begin with a hashmark.