# Some Twitter questions **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 22, 2010, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-twitter-questions/551074 "2010-08-22T15:52:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2010, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-twitter-questions/551074/21 "2010-10-06T22:23:55Z")
They are called hashtags and emerge from the community, rather than being an actual Twitter feature. If you click on the hashtag, you’ll be taken to the last x-number of tweets that included the tag. It’s not always possible to figure out what they are - some people use them as a kind of cutesy version of the old message board _feels emotion or does gesture_ type thing. Often though a news event happens and by some weird group selection process a tag emerges that is then used by everyone to track and comment on the event. #iranelection is the classic example of that. I can’t find a glossary, as almost all the search results I find are from marketing sites. #ff is long standing though, and is for Follow Friday. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2010, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-twitter-questions/551074/22 "2010-10-06T22:58:33Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#): > > #ff is long standing though, and is for Follow Friday. Yeah, I’ve run into that one–is that just a method to pimp your favorite tweet accounts? Thanks for the answer, btw; I figured there was some Inside Baseball aspect to it, but I figured there might be a handy way to track those memes instead of just waiting to run into them before you can use them yourself. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2010, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-twitter-questions/551074/23 "2010-10-06T23:43:02Z")
> [@ArchiveGuy](#): > > Yeah, I’ve run into that one–is that just a method to pimp your favorite tweet accounts? Yep. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2010, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-twitter-questions/551074/24 "2010-10-06T23:55:25Z")
> [@tumbleddown](#): > > It is possible to see every @reply sent to your username, whether it’s written by someone you follow or by a stranger. Just as an FYI in case anyone doesn’t know (I only found out recently), you can see the @replies to any user by using the to: qualifier in Search eg to:russellcrowe displays what he’s been sent. ---
**Author:** ![multimediac17](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/839c29/32.png) [@multimediac17](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/multimediac17)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2010, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-twitter-questions/551074/25 "2010-10-07T02:02:07Z")
I often wonder about celebrities getting overwhelmed with tweets from thousands upon thousands of users. If you want to get their attention you just have to get lucky and tweet them so they happen to see it at the top of their @ replies. That’s how I assume I got a tweet from Kylie Minogue, I just tweeted her at exactly the right time. Edit: I wasn’t specifically gunning for a tweet, I often tweet celebrities and popstars silly things for the benefit of my own followers (because I’m hilarious, of course) not expecting the celebrities to see them. Kylie did, and replied, and it was wonderful for all concerned. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2010, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-twitter-questions/551074/26 "2010-10-07T03:02:46Z")
> [@ArchiveGuy](#): > > So how do you find out what these are? [Here’s a site](http://whatthetrend.com/) that explains why certain hashtags and topics are trending. It may or may not provide an answer for your specific query. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2010, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-twitter-questions/551074/27 "2010-10-07T12:16:53Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > > [@ArchiveGuy](#): > > > > So how do you find out what these are? > > [Here’s a site](http://whatthetrend.com/) that explains why certain hashtags and topics are trending. It may or may not provide an answer for your specific query. That’s very cool! Thank you. 🆒 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-twitter-questions/551074.md?page=1)