Facebook Wants the Hashtag

By Barbara E. Hernandez

| Friday, Mar 15, 2013 | Updated 8:39 AM PDT

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LONDON - JULY 02: In this photo illustration the Twitter website is displayed on a laptop computer on July 2, 2009 in London. The social network site, started in 2006 in California as a sideline project, has grown into a global brand becoming one of the fastest growing phenomenas of the Internet. (Photo by Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images)

Facebook wants the hashtag.

Facebook is using the mark, most well-known in the Twitterverse, to group conversations, according to the Wall Street Journal. However, don't expect it to show up on your Facebook news feed immediately because the social network is still testing the hashtag, or word or words preceded by #.

The hashtag is probably most associated with Twitter, but that won't stop Facebook from using what has now become synonymous with associating an update or post with a subject. Facebook will use the hashtag to index conversations likely because the hashtag is used a lot on Instagram, which the social network bought last year.

Facebook has been slowly using many of Twitter's features, including creating subscriber lists and tagging people with the @ sign. The hashtag, which Twitter followers created five years ago, also plays a role in marketing for well-known brands. Strangely, there was no comment from Twitter on the new Facebook development.

It would be interesting to know what Twitter has to say about the development, especially since its clientele is a bit different than Facebook's. While it can't copyright a hashtag, Twitter still can't "like" Facebook copying its style and associated symbols.