What CSI:Miami can teach us about punctuating with hashtags
The art of saying as much (or as little) as possible on Twitter with the 140-character restraint is challenging to master. Some of us still prefer to use proper English and regular spelling of words (archaic, I know) when texting or posting to social media, so getting the full message across appropriately is difficult.
One technique that works well is to punctuate with a hashtag at the end of your Tweet. Think of it like the opening scene to every CSI:Miami episode. The main character, Horatio Caine, walks onto a crime scene and is giving a quick debrief. He then gets his trademark stoic, contemplative gaze set somewhere off camera, says something relevant to the current murderous situation, and brings it home by putting on his sunglasses and launching an awful pun about the situation.
“YEEAAAAHHHH!”
It even turned into a meme, of which this is a terrible but relevant example:
When you end a Tweet with a hashtag that is part of the conversation, it helps to put emphasis on what you’re trying to say. All too often, hashtags are used exclusively as keywords or a method to group different pieces of content together. They are used to track the Tweets going on at an event or to attach it to a current piece of news. These uses are all fine, but the punctuating hashtag is drastically underused. Here’s an example.
@elizabet_foster Brand have to be very careful with politics for sure. On my personal stuff, I’m often #TooPolitical — JD Rucker (@0boy) November 9, 2012When you can, use hashtags to help you make the point upon which the Tweet was focused. It’s an easy way to say more without actually having to say more.
