Alice’s Bucket List: Hashtag On Twitter, Epic Win

Within moments of seeing the first message on my stream, the hashtag #AliceBucketList was trending worldwide.

A 15 year old girl with terminal cancer just started a blog on Blogspot.com. There are only two entries thus far, but what stands out immediately? Her Bucket List.

And guess what’s on it?

…. TO TREND ON TWITTER? Some may argue no, this is not on her “Bucket List,” but by creating the trend, more people are going to see her blog and reading it.

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Here she is, Alice Pyne, http://alicepyne.blogspot.com/?spref=tw

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Again, within moments, enough people retweeted the link to her blog and the Hashtag, #AliceBucketList, to start it trending worldwide. Behold! Twitter can be used for good. Yes, there are the #Weinergate ‘hashtagging’ species of Twitter users, but the power of this little hash symbol ought not be underestimated.

Alice Pyne helps us see how the communication and message capabilities across a social network platform like Twitter, can be used for good purposes. Despite being separated by geography, user names, and computer screens, we can actually come together and spread a little love and support. Will this really make a difference in someone’s life? Consider the case of Alice and her Bucket List as an example. She makes a difference in our lives.

Cancer is a monster many face but the importance of self-education and cancer awareness, preventative medicine and also, community support, is something every single one of us must face, NOW. Not too many folks know what to do if they are diagnosed. Not too many folks know there are things we can do to help cancer patients. But this new platform for communication has allowed for there to be a forum to access and share information like this, so more people can learn and a difference can be made.

So, to Alice, I want to say thank you.

DEVELOPING, June 9, 2011: 01:50 FROM June 8,2011: 23:45 (EST) from 19:00 (EST)

I find it fascinating that I experienced an ad hominem attack from a random Twitter user who stated in a tweet that I endorse, “Lying by any means.” I do NOT advocate for using a lie to get attention. The question is, within the 140 characters allowed on Twitter, are using “hooks” as they do in marketing and advertising, examples of “lying.” Is this an example of a “False Hook,” and an immoral event on the social network? What do you think?  See the latest from the BBC and David Cameron’s support for Alice’s Bone Marrow Donor Aim

The Flashverse Hashtag: Four Poems

“Broken I”

The following is a yet-to-be-defined form of poetry or writing specific to the platform of social networking websites like Twitter or Tumblr. I have coined the term “Flashverse,” to describe the stream of consciousness, written in real time, without edit or premeditated form. In order to indicate to my followers and to people reading my timeline, after each line I use a Hashtag, in this instance #gwV. By placing the Hash or Pound symbol ( # ) before a sequence of alphabetical integers, a link is created for a new timeline featuring whatever is written under that hashtag exclusively. Unfortunately, this is not a permanent link and after 48 hours, a Flashverse like #gwV becomes unavailable unless preserved elsewhere.

“Broken I” combines both excerpts from my Twitter Timeline beginning Jan-29-2011 and ending on Feb-02-2011, and the poetry from the now defunct hashtag, #gwV. The image below represents the entire Flashverse, consolidated from the series of 140 character limit messages posted before, during and after its creation.

Each new line, represents a new message.

When a date or hashtag is indicated in parentheses after a line, the reader will identify this as either beginning or ending a sequence in the timeline.

A = A … Being told that A = G or A = M or whatever best fits someone’s agenda…. you question your own sanity. (28-Jan)

If you have to hear it enough.

I’m not a super hero. I’m as human as you. Please don’t expect me to be some flawless expectation, some character from your imagination.

And just because you have tunnel vision into the most secret parts of who I am and what I feel, doesn’t mean you have the whole picture.

#wtfdidntsignupforcombatinWWIorQUANTUMLEAPsowhythefuckamIevenbotheringwiththisextremelylonghashtagfornoreasonbutasametaphor (28-Jan)

I feel washed out, so hence the current Avi. I don’t know about you all but hearing that vandals and looters are desecrating history? (29-Jan)

It was Romain Rolland who wrote vehemently about how abhorrant this kind of desecration is during the start of WWI, in August 1914

“…Louvain is now no more than a heap of ashes–Louvain with its treasures of art and of science, the sacred town!”

“…by what name do you want us to call you now since you repudiate the title of barbarians? Are u the grandsons of Goethe or of Attila?”

“Are you making war on enemies or on human spirit? Kill men if you like, but respect masterpieces. They are the patrimony of human race.”

Find me here — somewhere between memory and the daydream — softly lapping upon the shoreline — lying beneath the wake of a beginning (#gwV)

Or drowning in the wake of the end

#Uncle

#HOWL

Fractured away with the sand — into the deep — into the darkness — swallowed among weathered stones — no limbs to fight the current

Find me here — between what is real and what is nightmare — rising in your sleep, listen as closely as you can — hear me calling

Find me here — between the memory and the daydream — reach into the hollows — straight line — gently — my mind is a spiderweb

Glistening in the darkness with fresh morning droplets of dew — as fragile, as beautiful — so easily broken — so hard to define

So unlike all others — woven with its own design — falling into nothing — hear me calling — hear it echoing — thru the salty brine

I’m there in the crest — my voice among all the rest — what you glimpse for that moment — a wave folds and foams — find me there

Find me here — take me home — bring me Home — let me rest on your shores (#gwV)

feeling twice my age…so who cares if I commit, go away…EST might be the best way…to slay my conscience, leave it forgotten in sludge

Not to notice time, not to notice age, not to notice anything but nothing, vacant, sedated, rocking day after day on the front porch

Touched by nothing, feeling nothing, seeing nothing, living nothing might be better than feeling this waste

Vacant — Fried — Alive but without sin — to die and pass into the light — hope for the better then — but not now, not with who I am

#Uncle

too late

too slow

too fat

too old

too much

not enough

too human

so gross

knock me out knock me out get it over knock me out knock me out knock me out get it over knock me out knock me out knock me out get it over

EMERGING CULTURE: THEATER OF TWITTER

Remember Old Twitter? I do.

December 4, 2011

*** UPDATE ***

If you will note the date of this post, you’ll see how the topic was active in November of 2009. Since then, we continue to see and experience the evolution of social media and online networking. By the same token, we are actively learning how the hashtag works and its various uses — whether consciously, or whether by chance, rapidly developed by users of social networks — Hashtaggers are pioneering how its application enables writers, journalists, scholars, artists, and others with an ability for exploring and sharing their work. The impetus for this blog post was the hypothesis for why the mechanics of a hashtag function to create new forms shaping the digital landscape.  Observing its nature over these past 24 months, evidence confirming my theory  holds strongly enough to warrant a follow-up to this article. Hashtaggers instinctively pioneering the form and function of communications online, specifically on social networks like Twitter and Tumblr, are providing the genesis for the productive application of this new technology. Therefore, it remains paramount for those of us studying and researching the hashtag, to record how it is changing and evolving, providing credit where credit is due, what works and what does not, why a user heralds an effective hashtag or how a user manipulates one.  

If you are interested in participating in the follow-up article, let me know by proving a comment in the comments section. As before, I will post a number of questions for people to answer, including the original survey used for the piece below. I look forward to hearing from some of the original participants and from those who find this phenomena as fascinating as many of us do.

— Kimberly Cox, New York City

Copyright 2009 – 2011, All Rights Reserved

      

THE HASHTAG GAME AND HASHTAGGERS

November 7, 2009

Hashtag games are played on Twitter every day, around the clock and all over the world. There are always at least one or two “Trending” (the Twitter system tracks the most frequently discussed topics using key word algorithms that search the system and isolate the most frequently entered words and phrases) and at all times, users will see a few people they are following engaged in a game.

Interesting to note how one subjective experience parallels the experiences of other users. Specifically, those who filled out the survey all together shared similarities in the approach to understanding and explaining the function of Twitter. Many thanks to those generous individuals (you know who you are) who participated.

I learn “by doing” on Twitter and that involves observation and trial by error. Fellow users provide the most valuable resource for education by actively demonstrating the etiquette, function and various utilities. Direct and indirect association with Twitter’s diverse population of users yields the individual’s education. The method practiced by many allows for the freedom of independent exploration. The flexibility encourages all users to sample a very large variety of machinations. Subjective experience then determines the user’s ensuing activity and also, role in a community.

The ecosystem of Twitter depends on the hashtag much in the same way the Chesapeake Bay and Hudson River depend on their watersheds and marsh lands. The rainwater and topographical run-off would otherwise go unfiltered and  overwhelm. Instead, the watershed and marsh balance the distribution of rainwater and run-off evenly. The hashtag, in turn, filters the Twitter feed, distributing a collective order across the system.

[ image deleted so i don’t get sued ]

HASHTAG GAMES CONTINUED

Unveiling The Hashtag: Twitter’s Secret Wit

THE HASHTAG

Unveiling Twitter’s Secret Wit one day at a time.

It starts with a small group of people in the morning, GMT, but members are all over the globe. After eating breakfast, wishing each other well, someone in the group will do this:

#cowfilms Moo-Struck

While hashtags are used to spread news and tag information to topics all across Twitter, there are some small communities that are building their own niche by playing what is called, “A Hashtag Game.” An interactive game of verbal cuckoldry played across the landscape of Twitter, players challenge each other to come up with the best spoofs on the topic they can.

Sometimes the topic will take one or two tries before the group seems to swing with abandon towards the Hashtag of the Day. It is a battle of wits, a soiree of silliness, fencing puns and a fun way to wake up.

This is one small community on Twitter but recently, their game has caught the interest of more and more users. This week alone, what begins with them in the morning blossoms and flourishes by the evening hours. Celebrities on Twitter begin participating, like Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright. The game is too fun to resist.

CONTINUED HERE