Within the million tweets 140 character world of Twitter the tiny hash Tag aka Pound Symbol [#] is the difference between your messages being seen or being overlooked. Although not an official Twitter feature the hash/pound Symbol is a simple and effect way to ensure your Tweet will appear when others seek out similar information. Hash tagged words are the Twitter equivalent of internet keywords. A simple click on the hash tagged word or a search at search.twitter.com and you will find all the tagged tweets with matching words.

A good place to start is by following @hashtags on Twitter then every time you tweet with a hash tag reference it will show up as a real-time posting at hashtags.org. You can easily check trending topics at their site and see what might be pertinent to your daily Tweets. Current popular daily hash tags include #music, #quote, #jobs, #phone, #news and #socialmedia.

The hash tag is a twitter community builder allowing like minded individuals to share information and ideas. Twitter’s social media follow Friday event is a good hash tag example and is represented by #followfriday or #ff these tags are used by a majority of Twitterers to spotlight individuals they consider worth following. Once you see a tweet with the #followfriday hash tag click in it and you will see volumes of recommendations which appear in a search format at search.twitter.com.

Hash tag creation is as simple as tweeting “#pdxtweetup Portland Grill 8pm Tuesday 10th” this lets friends know to where and when to meet you for the next Portland Tweet-up. The added hash/pound will allow anyone in your group to check of an upcoming event. Are you watching Fringe or #Fringe? If you want your opinion about the show to be found it is an important difference. Been to a film or rented a DVD you can hash tag the title and leave a review for everyone to see.

By using hash tags you can create a group, find others watching the same television shows, rate a movie or track a charitable cause. It is also an excellent business tool for tracking the trending topics of the twenty-five million plus daily visitors to Twitter. Whether you want your opinion of a favorite book to reach the Twitterverse or want to stay up-to-date for an event the tiny hash will allow you to inform others or be informed.

Lee Hiller is an expert writer and designer of Twitter backgrounds Her Twitter user name is @LeeHiller