Are you late to the whole social networking affair? No problem. It’s never too late to begin. It takes some time to get into the whole social networking thing, but you’ll be glad that you did. It’s definitely a beneficial experience.

Although Facebook continues to defend its position as still being the most popular social networking platform, you shouldn’t focus all of your attention there. As the saying goes, don’t keep all your eggs in one basket.

Twitter is a great resource for social networking, especially for writers. By taking advantage of hashtags, you can turn boring and useless looking tweets into interesting, pertinent and eye-catching ones; which your audience will not only want to read, but may even consider re-tweeting your posts for sharing with their own followers.  Captivate your readers with hashtags.

What Are Hashtags?

Have you ever seen a tweet include a word or phrase preceded by a pound sign? For example, a few months ago, Charlie Sheen’s #winning hashtag went viral. It’s called a hashtag because the ‘#’ is sometimes called a ‘hash,’ and using hashtags is a way for you to insert searchable tags and keywords into your tweets.

There are thousands of different hashtags floating around the Twitterverse. Many of them are important and useful, and many more of them are absolutely meaningless. Why? Anyone can make up a hashtag. A hashtag only becomes meaningful when a large number of Twitter users give it meaning.

If you ever encounter a hashtag that you’ve never seen before, you can use a program like “TagDef” to look up its existence. If you do not find a definition posted there, then you probably won’t want to use it or even care to know what it means.

Hashtags For Writers on Twitter

#amwriting / #amediting – Of all the Twitter hashtags that could possibly be relevant for writers, these two blow every other out of the water. Both #amwriting and #amediting are Twitter “chat” hashtags and you’re welcome to join in at any time.

#writing / #editing – These tags are similar to #amwriting and #amediting. These are the less popular versions of the two tags.

#wordcount – This tag is used by writers who want to share their up-to-date progress on whatever project they’re working on.

#nanowrimo – If you’re a novelist, you’ve probably heard of NaNoWriMo. This is their community hashtag.

#ww / #writerwednesday – Every Wednesday, Twitter users use this hashtag as a way of giving shout-outs to other writers, particularly the ones that they enjoy following. At least, that was its original purpose. Nowadays, this tag is used for all manner of writing-related activities on Wednesday.

#writetip / #writingtip — If you’re looking for tips and tricks to apply to your writing, this is the hashtag you need. This is also great for newbies, amateurs, and aspiring writers too.

#askagent / #askauthor / #askeditor — There are times when you have a question for agents, editors, and authors. Unfortunately, you may not know any agents, editors, and authors. Who can you ask? If you ever find yourself in that situation, use these hashtags. Agents, editors, and authors browse these hashtags and will often answer the questions that pop up.

#writingprompt — Writing prompts are a great way to jumpstart your creative juices. Search Twitter for this hashtag and you’ll find hundreds and thousands of great writing prompts that you can use.

#99c — A lot of products are priced at the $0.99 price point – and e-books are no exception. Many authors sell their stories for $0.99, and many of them use this hashtag to notify their potential readers. Use this tag if you’re looking for something at this price, or if you’re looking to sell your own work.

If you’re a regular Twitter user and you aren’t using hashtags, shame on you. Hashtags are not only a great way to find topical tweets, but also a fantastic way to get your topical content out there.

Whether you’re sharing or consuming content, do it with Twitter writer hashtags.  As you have just learned, Hashtags are awesome!