Facebook officially announces support for hashtags

Facebook on Wednesday announced official support for hashtags after a successful run on other services like Instagram and Twitter. They’ve become a “vital part of popular culture” and since they’re already used organically on the social network anyway, they decided to make them a true feature.

In a blog post on the topic, Facebook said hashtags will now be clickable. This will allow users to see a feed of what other people are saying about a particular event or topic. Furthermore, users will now be able to search for a specific hashtag from the search bar, click on hashtags that originate from other services like Instagram and compose posts directly from the hashtag feed and search results.
The social network points out that, like always, users will be able to control the audience for a post, even when using hashtags.

We’re told that hashtags are just the first step in helping people more easily discover what others are talking about with regards to a specific topic or event. They plan to roll out more features in the coming weeks and months such as trending hashtags and deeper insights.

Rumors surfaced back in March that Facebook would be implementing hashtags, a feature that was made famous in 2007. If you aren’t familiar, hashtags are words or phrases that are prefixed with the # symbol and are used to group together all posts about a similar event or topic.

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150 million photos now shared on Instagram

Instagram

Photo No. 150 million -- as snapped and Instagrammed by "@janefot."

Remember those Polaroids your grandma pulled out of envelopes or albums to show you way back when? Instagram brings that tinted, old-timey, Polaroid look and square dimensions to photos taken with your iPhone, giving users a choice of filters to apply to their photos. And since the free app launched last October, more than 150 million photos have been shared on Instagram's social network/photo-sharing site.

Since last fall, "we've seen more than 7 million people from all around the world share photos on our platform," Instagram said on its blog.

Instagram users are posting photos at the rate of 15 per second. And a look at some of those photos, shared on the blog, shows why: With the app's fun filters, photos become instant art or fodder for nouveau nostalgia.

Here's the first photo ever posted to Instagram, by app founder Kevin Systrom:

Instagram

Photos that have been Instagrammed can be posted not only to the app's site, but to Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Flickr, Foursqaure, Posterous, and can easily be emailed.

Instagram's small team of four employees is "constantly amazed by the range of photos" that are shared.

Instagram

San Francisco Giants fans celebrate their World Series championship.

"People use Instagram to snap photos of everyday moments with friends and family and also to document significant personal moments, like weddings and honeymoons," the company wrote on the blog.

"There are Instagram photos from major events like the World Series and the Grammys, and some Instagram photos have even made the national news. Artists and celebrities have begun to give fans a unique look into their lives through photos, while brands like Burberry have started to realize the power of communicating with their followers through images. Really, the app is as much a venue to a photo-sharing social network as it is about putting fun filters to your photos."

That's for sure. While some may worry about "oversharing" on social networks like Facebook or Twitter, Instagram represents the best king of sharing — although users don't have to post their photos if they don't want to.

Related stories:

Check out Technolog, Gadgetbox, Digital Life and In-Game on Facebook, and on Twitter, follow Suzanne Choney.

View the original article here

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150 million photos now shared on Instagram

Instagram

Photo No. 150 million -- as snapped and Instagrammed by "@janefot."

Remember those Polaroids your grandma pulled out of envelopes or albums to show you way back when? Instagram brings that tinted, old-timey, Polaroid look and square dimensions to photos taken with your iPhone, giving users a choice of filters to apply to their photos. And since the free app launched last October, more than 150 million photos have been shared on Instagram's social network/photo-sharing site.

Since last fall, "we've seen more than 7 million people from all around the world share photos on our platform," Instagram said on its blog.

Instagram users are posting photos at the rate of 15 per second. And a look at some of those photos, shared on the blog, shows why: With the app's fun filters, photos become instant art or fodder for nouveau nostalgia.

Here's the first photo ever posted to Instagram, by app founder Kevin Systrom:

Instagram

Photos that have been Instagrammed can be posted not only to the app's site, but to Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Flickr, Foursqaure, Posterous, and can easily be emailed.

Instagram's small team of four employees is "constantly amazed by the range of photos" that are shared.

Instagram

San Francisco Giants fans celebrate their World Series championship.

"People use Instagram to snap photos of everyday moments with friends and family and also to document significant personal moments, like weddings and honeymoons," the company wrote on the blog.

"There are Instagram photos from major events like the World Series and the Grammys, and some Instagram photos have even made the national news. Artists and celebrities have begun to give fans a unique look into their lives through photos, while brands like Burberry have started to realize the power of communicating with their followers through images. Really, the app is as much a venue to a photo-sharing social network as it is about putting fun filters to your photos."

That's for sure. While some may worry about "oversharing" on social networks like Facebook or Twitter, Instagram represents the best king of sharing — although users don't have to post their photos if they don't want to.

Related stories:

Check out Technolog, Gadgetbox, Digital Life and In-Game on Facebook, and on Twitter, follow Suzanne Choney.

View the original article here

Read More

150 million photos now shared on Instagram

Instagram

Photo No. 150 million -- as snapped and Instagrammed by "@janefot."

Remember those Polaroids your grandma pulled out of envelopes or albums to show you way back when? Instagram brings that tinted, old-timey, Polaroid look and square dimensions to photos taken with your iPhone, giving users a choice of filters to apply to their photos. And since the free app launched last October, more than 150 million photos have been shared on Instagram's social network/photo-sharing site.

Since last fall, "we've seen more than 7 million people from all around the world share photos on our platform," Instagram said on its blog.

Instagram users are posting photos at the rate of 15 per second. And a look at some of those photos, shared on the blog, shows why: With the app's fun filters, photos become instant art or fodder for nouveau nostalgia.

Here's the first photo ever posted to Instagram, by app founder Kevin Systrom:

Instagram

Photos that have been Instagrammed can be posted not only to the app's site, but to Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Flickr, Foursqaure, Posterous, and can easily be emailed.

Instagram's small team of four employees is "constantly amazed by the range of photos" that are shared.

Instagram

San Francisco Giants fans celebrate their World Series championship.

"People use Instagram to snap photos of everyday moments with friends and family and also to document significant personal moments, like weddings and honeymoons," the company wrote on the blog.

"There are Instagram photos from major events like the World Series and the Grammys, and some Instagram photos have even made the national news. Artists and celebrities have begun to give fans a unique look into their lives through photos, while brands like Burberry have started to realize the power of communicating with their followers through images. Really, the app is as much a venue to a photo-sharing social network as it is about putting fun filters to your photos."

That's for sure. While some may worry about "oversharing" on social networks like Facebook or Twitter, Instagram represents the best king of sharing — although users don't have to post their photos if they don't want to.

Related stories:

Check out Technolog, Gadgetbox, Digital Life and In-Game on Facebook, and on Twitter, follow Suzanne Choney.

View the original article here

Read More