If you're on Twitter, whether pre- or post-Oprah, you've likely noticed how quickly local news and interesting links get passed around. But have you ever tried to go back and find a story or link when you couldn't remember who posted it? Or tried to look for all the tweets surrounding a particular local topic? As good as Twitter's search tool is, it's still difficult because everyone writes (and links) differently.
Inspired by a group of insightful Twitter users in Charleston, we'd like to propose a better way of organizing Twitter conversations about Chattanooga. It won't work if we go it alone, but collaboration is the next big thing, after all. The basic idea is to develop, with the help of the local Twitter community, a set of standard hashtags to use when tweeting anything Chattanooga-centric.
Wait, what's a #hashtag?
The Twitter Fan Wiki describes hashtags as "a community-driven convention for adding additional context and metadata to your tweets." Using one is simple: just add a # to the beginning of a word or acronym in your Twitter post—followers of Chattarati will certainly recognize #onnotice and #summeroftaco. Following a tagged conversation is just as simple, thanks to Twitter Search, and many desktop and iPhone clients have hashtag or search tracking functions built in.
Chattanooga is #CHA
It's hard not to notice that the scenic city is fond of witty Chatta-prefixed names and slogans. But let's face it—Chattanooga is a pretty long word, and we all want to make the most of those precious 140 characters. The natural choice for a hashtag prefix is our airport code, CHA. From there, it's just a matter of categorization. Our suggestions largely mirror those used by the pioneering Charleston crowd:
- #CHAbrk: Breaking local news
- #CHAnews: Local news
- #CHAwx: Weather
- #CHAtrfc: Traffic
- #CHAspts: Sports
- #CHAeats: Food
- #CHAarts: Arts and Events
- #CHAcool: Chattarati Anything cool
Let's #talk about it.
By working together to develop and adopt these standards, we will make it easier for everyone to follow local news and conversations. But just to be clear, this post is intended to be nothing more than the beginning of a community discussion. Please share your thoughts on the concept, as well as the tags themselves. Let's see what we can create together.
John Hawbaker
josiahq on April 22, 2009
Great idea. Was just thinking we needed something like this last night.
What about #chattanooga for the mothershiptag?
I like #chattabrk / #chattaeats and #chatta better than #cha, but that's just me. Will defer, obviously, to the consensus of the Chattamasses.
facebook-56709187 on April 22, 2009
I know it uses 2 extra characters, but I'd prefer if the categories were separated as in #CHA #brk, #CHA #news etc. This way there is still an easy way to see all the #CHA tweets.
nicole on April 22, 2009
love the idea, agree with josiah. Of all the twitter users that see our posts that AREN'T from chattanooga might be from say, Champaign, IL, Charlotte, NC, or even Charleston. Plus, "chatta" sounds better.
Robert T. Nash on April 22, 2009
It's my belief Twittering is the digital equivalent of twiddling your thumbs...
DavidMorton on April 22, 2009
Barbara Streisand
ghostfreeman on April 22, 2009
Count me in!
John Hawbaker on April 22, 2009
Thanks for the feedback, everyone. It looks like the #chatta-love runs deeper than I'd thought.
On the other hand, I noticed @timesfreepress using #CHA today. Will any of the other tweeting media outlets weigh in?
John Hawbaker on April 22, 2009
Duly noted. Thanks for sharing.
Jason on April 22, 2009
I think this is a concept that needs to happen. I like #CHA, but think we may need to add a letter... I really like #NOOG, as it is less common and may be more Chattanooga specific. If this progresses any further, I think that some form of "advertising" this concept would be worth it to try to get everyone on board. Maybe a simple graphical explanation page that everyone could re-tweet? Cool stuff...
Adrienne on April 22, 2009
Why not a twitter poll? There are lots more tweeple who would like to weigh in.
Brilliant idea. I've noticed that Twitter is getting increasingly hyperlocal. While I follow people from all over the world and occassionally reply to them, the majority of my tweets are Chattanooga-related.
#CHA is recognizable but #NOOG does look pretty awesome.
Does communal narrcissism get any better?
John Hawbaker on April 22, 2009
It is a bit ironic that we've written a blog post about how to organize tweets, isn't it? A twitter poll is a good idea.
Choosing is one thing, though, and adopting is another. Will it work?
Xarker on April 22, 2009
What's your airport code? What's already in common usage? And short is useful.
For what it's worth, use of the three-letter local code and a four-letter topic code is spreading (to, in this case, Canada): http://bit.ly/w5k2
JoeJacobi on April 22, 2009
Good conversation. I'd only add that TFP using #cha is probably not a reason to stick with it. #noog is pretty orginal but #chat (plus any additional letters would seem pretty easy for most folks to pick up.
John Hawbaker on April 23, 2009
Agreed. One outlet alone is not enough to sustain this idea, but it was interesting to see that they picked up on it.
facebook-61404777 on April 23, 2009
I love the idea. Prefer #CHA to #Chatta. I'm longwinded and need those 3 characters. Also, as far as breaking up the terms for search, searching for #CHA would get you #CHAbrk, #CHAwx, etc. Keeping the terms together seems more useful. Looks like I have another twitter meta site to build.
joelance on April 23, 2009
@WRCB re-tweeted the original suggestion, I noticed.
lostorbit on April 23, 2009
@chattaweather is now tweeting updates with the #CHAwx tag.
ghostfreeman on April 23, 2009
So I guess market forces have spoken, and we're using #CHA instead of #NOOG
DavidMorton on April 23, 2009
For what it's worth, my vote is for #CHA, I like the solidarity of using the airport code. Go Chattanooga Metro...I mean, go Chattanooga Metropolitan Airport. (that was close)
Lee C on April 23, 2009
the shorter the better. my vote: #CHA
Joel Becker on April 23, 2009
I'm all for it. I just have to remember to actually add the decided upon hashtags at the end. Given that there is enough room after I've twiddled what I wanted to tweet.
Zack Cooper on June 6, 2009
Obviously late to this topic, but without making further suggestions at the moment (other than I think following city airport abrev.'s is a sound idea), I'll pledge the attempt to get our tweets on accepted standards and assist in the effort. #chatweetstylesheet.