If you’re #dying for #newwaystoexpressyourself, then you’re about to read some #goodnews (#rumouralert!). The #wallstreetjournal says #facebook will “incorporate the hashtag” on its own (#copying much?).
Details are scant: “It is unclear how far along Facebook’s work on the hashtag is and the feature isn’t being introduced imminently, these people said,” the Journal says, as it strokes its crystal ball, and perhaps the thigh of a Facebook engineer.
Using hashtags would help Facebook on its quest to destroy Twitter — the current status update system is a total aping of tweets, after all — and allow us to get in on group discussions by clicking a keyword.
You could see what yokels all over the nation are saying about the #nrl, directly from your News Feed. And, as AllThingsD rightly points out, it’s a potential cash bonanza for NASDAQ villain Mark Zuckerberg — sponsored hashtags would give Facebook even more ways to stick ads on your page.
But let’s not forget the most important thing here, which is that aside from current events and strict organisation, hashtags are the symbolic vernacular of idiots across the world, who spray them across sentences like a bottle of tomato sauce. We’ve #reachedout to #facebook and will let you know what they #say. #teamfollowback [WSJ]