Facebook To Add Hashtags, Says Sources

Hashtags have long been the domain of Twitter, where users utilize them alongside keywords to make searching and grouping easier. Over time, hashtags have become an embedded part of our vernacular, used as a part of speech to emphasize a particular aspect of the conversation, the speaker's setting, and other such things. As such, it only makes sense that Facebook would add the hashtag to its own service.

The information comes from individuals who are said to be familiar with the matter, according to the Wall Street Journal. The hashtag feature, once incorporated, will allow events and trends to be aggregated together by their shared topic, with users being able to click on the hashtag to see a list of statuses with the same marker.

While the hashtag is a staple of and most commonly associated with Twitter, it isn't exclusive to that service, and can be found in use across the web, including on Facebook's own Instagram, which makes it easier for photos to be sorted and discovered. As it currently stands, Facebook users can already tag certain things via "@."

This comes at a time when Facebook is making some big changes and is competing against Twitter in a spectrum of areas, not the least of which is getting more advertisement dollars flowing its way. Recently, the social network updated its search engine, stated that public statuses will be searchable, and has pushed users to post more content publicly rather than with just their friends. Says the sources, this feature won't roll out for awhile, so don't expect to see it with the updated news feed.

[via Wall Street Journal]