Hashtags, invented by Chris Messina in 2007, are the most amazing stuff in twitter I think. Using an hashtag we can tag our tweets. Tagging posts sometimes means keeping track of an event or of a topic. Right now, I could say that Hashtags are the 1.0 of TwitterTags. Another kind of TwitterTag (or Microsyntax for twitter), we can consider, is the “RT”.
Today I read this amazing post from Chris Messina writing about slashtags, that I called the TwitterTags 2.0 so the new Twitter microsyntax.
What are the SlashTags?
Sure you might have never listened this word, but you can understand I’m speaking about using slash “/” in tweets. Who comes from IRC world, already knows that slashes are commands ( Slash + a word like /join ). Here examples of using SlashTags. There is a project about this new kind of microsyntax, you can collaborate or just read all about Slashtags in this wiki
/via – to say from who you get a content
The via pointer is like “RT”. Already used with “(” and “)” like “(via @nicolagreco)”
Is it time to start switching to HTML5? http://bit.ly/7Tn282 #html5 /via @woork
With the /via pointer you can save one character.
/cc – to indicate someone you want to direct a tweet at
This is like in emails. You use this pointer as carbon copy.
I miss my deadline! /cc @wolly
That’s useful for people that follow lot of users and can’t read everyone’s tweets. So you can get their attention using cc.
/by – to cite or quote someone
Ok this, which might appear same as /via or RT, as Chris says in his post, it’s used to quote or cite someone, so it’s not like retweetting.
make yours spirits bright. wish. /by @stefigno
/thx – to thanks someone for a tweet
This is a funny pointer, we might use to thank someone for a link, for a tweet or everything else.
Bugs fixed! /thx @dottorblaster
Given I use a lot FriendFeed, I would like to add to the Chris list /like. To put a “like” on a tweet. Anyway, we just can use slashtags as we want, like commands giving to pointers a kind of sense, and not just using them as hashtags.
4 responses so far ↓
1 Chris Messina // Dec 13, 2009 at 5:59 pm
Thanks for the write up, Nicola.
I’ve been pleasantly surprised at how both my little conventions have caught on — what was once just a little trick that I used myself became much bigger when I explained what, why, and how I was doing it!
As for your proposal to add /like… I think you should start by using this convention and see if it makes sense to people, and if anyone starting imitating you. I’d also add your proposal to the microsyntax wiki:
http://microsyntax.pbworks.com
One point I’ll make about slashtags and pointers is just that: they’re intended to *point* at something else. In other words, they take an indirect object — whether an author, a recipient, or a source (among others). /like breaks that convention.
I wonder if it wouldn’t be more readable to just add something like “*like*” to the end of your tweet? Or even just use a hashtag? (#like)
In any case, feel free to add it to the wiki — and see if anyone else picks it up. Cheers!
2 Nicola Greco // Dec 14, 2009 at 12:30 am
Ehy Chris! Thanks for commenting.
Thanks for the suggesions.
For /like I point the user it’s same as RT or /via I use it when i retweet a post because I like it:
Now it should make sense :)
Cheers!
3 uberVU - social comments // Dec 14, 2009 at 12:32 am
Social comments and analytics for this post…
This post was mentioned on Twitter by nicolagreco: Revolutionary use of Slashtags – a new microsyntax for Twitter http://is.gd/5lXg4 #slashtags /cc @chrismessina…
4 Gli slashtags su Twitter | .iFABIOLALLI // Dec 14, 2009 at 1:16 am
[...] Ho avuto modo questa sera di parlare qualche minuto con @NicolaGreco dopo aver letto il suo post in italiano relativo agli slashtags e lo stesso, approfondito, anche in inglese sul sito WorkingViral. [...]
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