It's been a long time coming. Facebook has officially added hashtags. Users have been unofficially employing them since the dawn of Twitter, but now the hashtags are actually functional on the social media site—they will be clickable and searchable.
Here's a breakdown of how they work, courtesy of HubSpot. Now, you can:
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Search for specific hashtags via the Facebook search bar
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Click on hashtags that originate from other services, like Instagram
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Create new posts from within the hashtag feed and search results
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Add hashtags to Facebook ads you're running
So should communications pros dive right in?
Approach with caution. Over-hashtagging can annoy your audience, and not all Facebook users support the hashtag movement. The best policy is to apply the same rules you do on Twitter, perhaps treading even more lightly. Keep in mind that your own hashtags can turn against you (#McDStories: Never forget).
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