#Hashtags. What are they and why are they here?

If you are a regular social media user and like to hang out at the likes of Instagram or Twitter you are probably all over the term hashtag. If however your social media habits only extend as far as Facebook you could very well be wondering what all the fuss is about.

Now I am by no means a social media expert but I do like to think I have a grasp of the basic. Some may even say that I have a strong grasp on the basics and I for one would not argue with them. With all of that in mind I feel that it is only fair that I share some of my knowledge with those less informed but curious none the less.

A thought that was confirmed for me when I asked my loyal Facebook likers if they were interested in such information. Sure only two out of 416 responded but that is enough confirmation for me.

So what is all the hashtag (#) fuss and why do I feel the need to share the fuss with you?

Well hashtags have recently been added to Facebook and if you are someone like me trying to gain greater exposure on through this medium it is a little exciting. If however, you are an average Joe Blow, free from the addiction that social media can be, you maybe left wondering what all the hashtag fuss is about. I do assure you that once you understand the joys that are hashtags your excitement levels will begin to soar.

Bear with me and let me explain a little more.

What is a #hashtag?

Essentially a hashtag is just a means of grouping like minded posts together. It is represented by the # at the start of a word or term. 

To find the # symbol you generally just push shift and 3 on a standard computer keyboard. It is often found on the second number/symbol keyboard on smart phones. Please don't think I am patronising here by telling you where to find it because just between you and me it took me ages to find it on my phone. Thankfully most apps are now designed to make it easier to find the hashtag button it can sometimes take a bit of looking for. Anywho...

The moment you place a # in front of a word or term it becomes automatically linked to all other posts that have the same word or term hashtagged. Which means it is a great way of searching for things. 

Say for example you were looking for some new crochet patterns or inspiration. All you have to do is go to the internal search feature and type #crochet and wham bam thank you 'mam there are heap of posts full of crochet goodness.

Some of the posts that came up when I searched the hashtag
#crochet on Facebook.

Why are they here?

According to the reliable source that is an uncited article on Wikipedia, hashtags were first seen in Internet Relay Chat, which as the name suggests is some sort of conversation mechanism via the internet. It was deemed handy there to group conversations and this was seen as the way to do it. 

By grouping conversations it was easier to keep track of conversations that were of interest to those from varied backgrounds and not necessarily friends with each other. By hashtagging posts similar content can be grouped together making it easier for all relevant information on a particular topic easy to find.

On services such as Twitter, if enough people are using a particular hashtag it is known as trending. Trending topics are those with the highest popularity and seen as a great way to gain exposure. For the user trending topics are a way to stay a float of what is hot.

Ultimately though hashtags are here as they provide a nice easy uniform way of grouping things together and what computer nerd doesn't like grouping things together?

So there you have all you need to know about the wonders that are hashtags.

Healing Foods

It is no secret that food and diet impact our health and well being. It also doesn't take a rocket scientist to at least vaguely know a good and bad difference. However, how do you know what food is more beneficial for a particular problem?

Well unless you are some dietician and nutritional expert you probably won't. Unless of course you like to keep  your finger on the pulse and do a bit of light reading on a range of topics. Like my real life Bestie who reads all kinds of amazing books just because she wants to learn more and look after her body as much as she can.

Thankfully for me I have her and she is only too happy to pass on any important tidbits that she thinks I might be interested in. Which is great because unlike her there is no way I can find the time to read and raise three children and keep house. Mind you she does not have distractions like a blog or Facebook to rudely chew into her precious time.

Back to the point though.

One of the books that she raves on about most is this one

Healing Foods by Miriam Polunin can be found here
No that is not an affiliate link
I just thought I would be helpful to those interested in more info

While it is only listed on Amazon for a couple of bucks it is more than I am prepared to fork out in this super tight economic situation, only a few short weeks away from the highly anticipated #DPCON13.

Plus why buy it when I can just ask Bestie to check it out for me?

Inside this wondrous little book is information on fifty foods and the fantastic things that they can do for your health. There are also a bunch of yummy recipes to help inspire some new dishes to your table.

Sick of me always asking her to look something up Bestie has left her book with me for a few days so I can absorb some of the information within it's covers for myself. Being the kind and sharing gal that I am I thought I would also share that info with my lovely readers. Plus it means when I give the book back I will still have something to reference.

Mind you working out which bits were the most important to remember and write about was no easy feat. Even though there are only 160 pages in the book, there is a lot on each page. As such I have decided that I will do a bit of a series about it all. I can hear you all cheering from here.

The whole series thing will also give me a chance to schedule posts for while I am kicking my heals up at the afore mentioned #DPCON13. Have I mentioned how excited I am about it?

Make sure you pop back soon for the first instalment, around Thursday. Better yet head over to the side bar whip in your email address and then have each of my awesome posts sent straight to your in box.

Could life get any better or easier?

Joining Jess and the gang for IBOT

And of course feel free to share all over the place. Plenty of buttons below to help you out there

AddThis Button, please share me

So I am trying to add and AddThis button to my posts. I have somehow managed to do this on My Fairy Garden yet it is proving to be a little tricky over here on Rambles.

The joy of an AddThis button is that it allows readers to easily share any posts that take their fancy. So with the click of a button you can recommend my post to any number of social bookmarking sites.

Why would you do this?

Well firstly it would increase my exposure which may in turn increase my hits which may then in turn mean the odd extra cent for me here and there. I am a huge believer in every bit counts!

Any back to the button. If all has gone to plan the button should look like this

Just move the mouse over it to see your options. Some may require membership but others will not. Thanks for making me feel special by sharing me with all you know.

If all goes well and according to plan then this button will be found at the end of every post. I have a terrible feeling though it will only be on post from here on in. Oh well, can't win them all I guess...

Followers Widget

I would just like to draw your attention over to the right of screen to my lovely new followers widget. This great little gadget keeps you updated on all my latest and greatest entries. With just a click of a button you'll always be able to easily find out what my rambles are.

I am very excited to announce that I already have one follower. So a big howdy hi to Bonnie.

The other great thing about being a follower is that it provides fellow bloggers a bit of a free plug so even if you don't want to follow me as such think of it as a great way to get your face seen by more people.

It's been a while since I have had a decent photo to post, hence the noticeable absence of them of late. Thankfully however I have come across one for today.

This is stunning bird was shot in a local park.