New constituency-level hashtags launched for the general election
Following the election announcement last week, PoliticalBetting.com have made an effort to organise conversations on Twitter around each constituency with the introduction of standardised hashtags. Hashtags are a way for users on Twitter to organise themselves; if people agree to use a certain hashtag when talking about a particular topic, it becomes easier to find that particular topic using Twitter's search function.
Previously, Twitter users were already using the #GE2010 hashtag to talk about the general election at a national level. Using constituency hashtags allows users to find news and conversations on Twitter that are relevant to their local area, and also allows for much deeper organisation of tweets during the general election for those who are interested in particular constituency races.
One problem with constituency-level hashtags is that there can be a large variation in the way that names are abbreviated and how things are spelled, so agreeing on a standard list of hashtags like the one created here will help to capture a larger number tweets about a particular constutency.
Follow the link below to see the full list, and don't forget to include the relevant hashtag when tweeting about the election in your area.
2010 General Election hashtags
Freddy Fallon - Researcher, Digital Democracy