If you asked anyone that’s seen me lately, I’m kind of a whirlwind. No time for much and I have to be knocked down with sickness before I actually stay still. I had been feeling rundown big time, because I hadn’t had a full weekend off in a long time. I’d like to say what I mean is that I hadn’t spent any time with friends on weekends, but I really mean is that I hadn’t had two days to myself where I didn’t have to leave my house and could just decompress from everything. This past weekend, I did that and it was ugly.

On Saturday, I refused to leave my bed. On Sunday, I made a little progress and made it downstairs to the couch. I walked around a bit and did a couple of chores, but it was all because I was forcing myself to. Ugh, I hate even thinking about it.

And then there was the toll that this weekend took on the guy I live with. It takes no toll on the cat because he gets extra cuddles, but on the other guy… it’s a big deal. I wasn’t really able to make food for myself and with my diet, all he could think to do was to give me apples. The cat needed things and there was no one else to make sure those things happened. And then having to tip toe around and check-in on me is another bother. And not knowing what is good to say and what is bad has got to just add a lot of stress to him.

After getting the strength to say to him on Sunday night during a fight, “I’m overreacting, but this is why,” he started to poke at me a bit more. What triggered this episode? What can we do to make this not happen again? How can you take some pressure off of you? We talked through my life right now. Things that are bothering and how hard it’s been to achieve my goals. And then how my goals are hurting my ability to be present and active in our home life.

I don’t know what the point of this post is, but I just feel really bad some days that I go through weekends like this. I haven’t figured out balance yet. I don’t know where to even begin with that. I’ve got my relationship, two jobs, diet, training for a marathon and my cat. That’s a lot. And doing them all perfectly is never going to happen and I’m going to keep feeling bad about myself if I continue this way. So perhaps it’s time to focus on a few things that I can at least do well in each of those categories and go from there.

And I guess the real point of all of this is that I’m lucky. At the end of the day, I have a boy and a cat that both put up with a lot and both will do anything to please me. Even to their detriment. So maybe the real starting point is to focus on that. And maybe the rest will come.

This week, a lot of us have been bragging on the great numbers Ohio has racked up lately and how we are moving the economy forward. That’s great and all, but that’s not why I love tourism and am happy to consider myself a part of the Ohio tourism family.

After college, I followed into my first career, even though I had figured out in college it was not for me. I didn’t have the personality and candidates didn’t live up to who I wanted them to be. After I did in fact work for a candidate that was everything I’d hope a candidate would be, it was time for me to exit stage left. Unfortunately, it was harder than I thought it would be.

I ended up working retail. I was miserable. I came home every day drained and hating people. But once again, I didn’t know what else to do. So I started talking to management about going to their management school and transitioning into that position. And then I woke up. I refused to make the same mistake twice. So I called temp agencies and got an interview. If I didn’t know what I want, I was going to temp, maybe go back to school and figure stuff out.

The first thing the temp agency said to me was, “Why are you working retail?” I didn’t have a good answer. Bad economy. Bad decisions. Bad job. They told me that their first goal was to get me the job my ambition and drive deserved. I didn’t buy it, but I was willing to go along with it.

I ended up in an architecture firm that wanted to hire someone full-time. They made it clear pretty quickly that they didn’t want me, because I was too smart. Okay, so this was how it was going to go. Just like job hunting… over-qualified and too ambitious.

Next job was in tourism. I thought it was just a temporary job. I thought I’d leave quickly. Who works in tourism? Four years later, I can honestly say that the nicest, most brilliant people I know do. In fact, that frightened me. I wasn’t used to that. These people were obviously family and would share anything to make someone else better. That’s not the world I came from. It took me six months to make so much as a peep because of that.

But then peep I did. And by making those peeps, many people have allowed me to stretch myself and try new things. I’m finally figuring stuff out and am probably the happiest I’ve ever been right at this moment.

At the same time, I was just outside of this wonderful world. So even though I tried my best to make the lives of those in tourism better, I never really felt like I was one of them. Until recently.

Amir Eylon, the Ohio state tourism director, said to me, “You know you’re one of us, right?” Huh? Me? No. And then it became clear. Somehow along the way, I had become one of them. I’m now Ohio tourism and I’m proudly declaring that wherever I can.

And Amir isn’t the only one that’s made me a part of this wonderful group. Melinda Huntley is challenging me and making me better right now in ways I never knew possible. Claudia Plumley and Susan Peters both greet me with hugs and smiles and get excited every time we talk work. Mary Szymkowiak looks for ways to include me in things I’ve never been included in before. And Karen Raymore, who has been nothing short of wonderful to me. These people are inspire me and I’m happy that they (and the rest of Ohio tourism) welcomed me into their family.

I unfortunately have a lot that I’m working on, so this blog became a little dormant. I hated that, so I have started asking friends if they would like to write a guest post while I get things under control. The first is one of my closest friends, Anne Hornyak. Many of you have read her fabulous social media advice, but I don’t think many know what the degree to which she’s been sick since December. That is why I asked her to write about it and how she has/hasn’t been dealing with it. I didn’t know just how incredibly brave it was going to be.

That which does not kill us makes us stronger, right?

I’ve had mono for nearly 5 months now. The physical exhaustion is bad enough on its own but the mental anguish is even worse. At the height of it, I would rest the entire weekend, spending half of it in bed and the other half on the couch. Week after week for three months. Now most days are spent working too many hours and then resting and sleeping so that I can do it all again the next day. This is not the life I want to live.

The good news is that I’ve recently had a few good days in a row so I think I’m over the worst right now. At least I hope so. But I’ve felt this way a few weeks ago and the mono came back even stronger so it’s really too early to tell.
I also just started taking medicine for depression, which has made the exhaustion seem a little more tolerable.
Betsy asked if I would write about how I’ve been dealing (or even not dealing) with the depression that’s been brought on by the mono. At first I was a little leery because admitting that I couldn’t deal with this on my own somehow felt like a failure but hopefully my story can somehow help others with their battle.

I’ve actually been dealing with depression for a few years. It felt like it was under control but it was still affecting my overall attitude. It just recently became entirely unbearable and started to consume my daily life.

The frustration of not being able to do anything besides rest made me incredibly irritable and snippy. The people that I cared about the most were the ones that had to deal with the worst of my behavior. Anyone who knows me knows that I suffer from Catholic guilt so I would immediately feel bad for my actions, which only augmented the depression.

I have an amazing network of friends but I felt like I was abusing them because I always needed their support. I would bounce from friend to friend, trying not to become a burden to any one of them. I take pride in being strong and independent so when I really needed my friends the most, I started isolating myself. If it was the other way around, I would have grown tired of a friend always complaining and needing solace. Surely they must have felt the same.

A few weeks ago I confided in some friends and told them that I had been sobbing every day for no reason. They told me not to cry, but unless you’ve personally dealt with depression, it’s hard to understand. This was not something I could control. Believe me, I didn’t want to cry everyday. It’s not horrible when it happens at home (alone) but I’ve had tears well up in church and at the doctor’s office. It would have happened at other places too if I actually had enough energy to leave the house more regularly. Typically some thought triggered the tears. Sometimes it would be from glancing up from my laptop at a photo of Daisy, my dog that passed away last year. Other times it would just be from exhaustion or the unknown curiosity of wondering how long I had to wait until I could do normal things again. Until I could go back to my old life.

I’ve lost a lot of online credibility as a professional because all I tweeted were complaints about being sick and exhausted. Friends say that this isn’t true but I know it is. Perhaps “credibility” isn’t the right word. It’s more my reach and influence in the industry that has suffered. I still feel like a lot of the work that I had done to become a “somebody” has been ruined. When things are bad, the most logical step in this scenario is to become silent online, even though that makes things harder. When I want to cry, I keep it in. When I want to scream, I keep it in. When I want someone to hold my hand and tell me everything will be ok, I keep it in.

I know it will just take time and effort to bring back my social media influence but is it really worth it? My life is already divided between my job, health/sleep and the little self-promotion that I do. What can I give up to make room for more of a personal life? In the end, having thousands of twitter followers will mean nothing. Posting funny pictures of dinosaurs on Facebook will mean nothing. Getting views or comments on my blog will mean nothing. I need to prioritize but I’m too tired to take any actions.

Will I ever get better? My cousin has Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and my worst fear is that mono will develop into CFS for me as well. When you’re forced to deal with something day after day, you kind of become obsessed with it. There’s a lot of false information on the internet so it’s hard to say for sure but some cases of CFS may possibly be tied to the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), which is the virus that causes infectious mononucleosis. The virus that I still have actively infecting me, according to recent tests. The virus that has eaten up the past 4-5 months of my life.

A few days ago, Betsy called me for my birthday. Towards the end of our conversation, she said, “you will get better” offhandedly. Those four words meant so much to me. Whether it’s with mono, depression or anything else, I may need a lot of help along the way but, eventually, I will get better. This is now my light at the end of the tunnel. I will get better.

I am constantly put into situations where I have to explain why I do what I do. I rarely get paid. In fact, I’m more likely to shell out a few bucks in order to do something that intrigues me than to not do it at all. In the end, it really comes down to the fact that I like breaking systems and I just simply like helping people. So yeah, not all that mysterious.

But one of my friends pushed me. He said that wasn’t a good enough reason. I was possibly wasting time on this and I needed to pursue something more worth my while. Since this friend is in finance, I decided to take another stab at explaining it. We all have online reputations. These reputations are basically what we use as currency in our world. The bigger and better our reputations, the more that we get to do. We trade and barter all in the name of getting people to do what we would like them to do. For me, that sometimes equates to getting people to events for my day job and sometimes it’s as simple as getting people to read a blog post. It just depends on what is important to me at the time. And in exchange, I am expected to give some too.

I’m lucky in that this all comes naturally to me. I’m more likely to give than to take, so when I feel the need to ask, I’m rarely met with rejection. And my lack of asking may have a little something to do with #catholicguilt. We’ll ignore that though.

I’ve been feeling guilty lately, because I think the tables have turned. I think I’m asking a lot of you guys and giving little to nothing to the social community in general. This guilt has been somewhat muted by the fact that I am still helping every single person that I feasibly can help when they ask me. My problem right now is that I’ve got a buttload of needs. Putting my online needs aside, I’ve had holidays, birthdays, new flooring, cat issues,  relationship issues, etc. (Oh my God guys, I think I have a life!) However, I think I still know a thing or two about securing some social media currency, so here are a few tips:

1. Don’t constantly ask for people to vote for you: Hey, I am guilty of this right now and I hate it (Vote for me! Vote for Cleveland!). An already stretched thin reputation is totally taking a hit from the things that I have going on right now. Every time you ask people to vote for something, think, “Is this really going to help me achieve something that is important to me and/or my social media strategy?” I’m in the unfortunate position of having two things going on that would achieve something important. Try not to let that happen.

2. Don’t ask people to do your work: There’s a difference between asking a question that requires a quick answer and asking for the step-by-step instructions so that you don’t have to really doing anything and yet still look fantastic. Know that difference. Asking questions isn’t bad, but asking people to do the creative and the technical for you is super, super bad.

3. Don’t constantly go after celebrities for retweets: Maybe this is just me. I know we’re all on Twitter for different reasons. If you’re constantly doing this, I think you’re not on there for business reasons which is totally cool. Not everyone has to be on there for business reasons. But if you are trying to get business done, this is not the way to do that. It will make you look less professional and less social savvy. Especially since celebrities are usually not influential enough in your core audience to help you achieve much.

4. Do say hi: If you say hi to me with no ulterior motives, you’re going to interest me. I’ll at least take a look at what you’re doing (I’m an online stalker, after all). That’s the start of gaining a reputation with me.

5. Do ask questions: I can’t even get into how flattering it is when you show that you have a sincere interest and want to know more. Good pointed questions get you everywhere in social.

6. Do be interesting: This is a no-brainer. If you want to gain a reputation, do stuff. Make it cool. Don’t tweet about how you’d jump the Yankees 24-7 (oh crap). But make your feed enjoyable too. Crack jokes, show your personality and just be you. Because you are interesting. And that made up business persona that you’re putting on? Not so interesting.

What other tips can you give to someone that is trying to gain a reputation in social?

The Bronze Fonzie says Vote Betsy

Hey there! Most of you that will read this already know me, but for those that don’t, my name is Betsy A. Decillis. Yes, it’s always with the A. My parents gave me the initials BAD, because they thought it was funny. But frankly, it goes well with my sense of humor, so I’ve gotten over the great parenting that they displayed there.

Today, I’d like to talk to you about the Social Media Club of Columbus. I made a decision to run for their Programming Chair and well, I think it would be super swell if you voted for me. You know for all of the obvious reasons like I’m the most awesomest person ever, of course. But you know there are some less obvious reasons too…

I started my career in politics. I LOVE the campaign process and nonprofit work. The idea of figuring out how to do a whole lot with little has always intrigued me, as well as forming relationships to make things happen.

My second career has been in tourism. Now if you want to meet a group of people that do a whole lot with nothing, this is the crew. As I was trying to understand them and figure out how to best serve this amazing group of individuals, I started experimenting with social media. I took my fundraising background from campaigning and tried a little of this and a lot of that  to figure out what worked. I dived head first into any learning opportunity and forged relationships with those that most impressed me so that I could learn more. This was all in the name of helping an industry that I grew to love.

Over time, Anne Hornyak and I realized that there was something missing. Even though there were a ton of smart individuals in tourism and social media, we weren’t sharing in an effective manner. That led to us founding #tourismchat. We have run this successful chat for two years and pride ourselves on providing the best questions on the most pertinent topics in social media. This is something that I strongly feel that our Social Media Club is not doing as of right now and I would like to fix that. And I think my experience in building this community will help to get the club back on a track that will help all of us do business better.

About a year after doing the chat, I realized that there were not enough great resources for those that are new to the social media world, but want to learn the best practices. But being me and having a touch of ADD, I couldn’t leave it at just being a business only blog. Yes, I’m breaking all of the rules here, but every topic I write about affects a number of people that work at many different levels of social media. And the more I talk about my struggles with depression, I’m realizing that this is a thread that unites too many of us in social media. So yes, you may think my blog is a bunch of hodge podge, but there is a method behind the madness. My number one goal, however, has always been to provide great advice to those that need it. And I try to do that both here on the blog and any time anyone asks.

In the process of doing the blog, I realized something else was missing from our community: a list that broke out who is awesome at tourism and social media and is willing to help. I filled that void the best I could and I am very proud of the recognition that has given to those in a community that is often overlooked.

My latest project has been freelancing. I love it. There is nothing better than getting to work with people that are genuinely excited to be around me and want me to help them do what they do better. When I asked my first client what her goals were, she literally said, “Do something awesome.” How can you not want to hug someone that says something like that? This has led to me doing presentations, writing guest blog posts and stepping out more as my own force. I’m a little uncomfortable with attention, so this has taken some time to adjust to. But I want to take my client’s goal and make it my goal for everything I do. I want to be something awesome.

So please take the time to vote for me for Programming Chair. And hey, if you agree that I should get this position, I’d love it if you left a comment. Or hashtag your Twitter comments with #ilikebetsy. Yeah, I’m so awesome that I have my own hashtags. How can you not vote for that??

I want it all. I want the house, the husband, the adorable kid, the great job and the fantastic life. I want to be the girl that everyone looks at and says, “WOW.” Okay, let’s be honest… No one is ever going to say that about me, but I want to feel that about me. I want to accomplish things. I want to be someone. I just simply want it all.

I’ve been talking to girl friends lately and we all let the secret that we dare not speak slip… We’re scared that we can’t have the life that we want. Professionally, we’ve found our stride. We know what we want to do and we’re all going after it. We love our lives. And frankly, don’t want much to change.

But we want something that all of us are missing: a kid. Some of us sooner than others. And it’s scaring the hell right out of us.

I don’t know if it’s maturity or what, but there is this really big realization that my life will no longer be my own. And yet, I like my life. I like working constantly. I like cuddling up with my kitten every night. I like running off at a moment’s notice to God knows where. And I like being able to keep a constant eye on everything that is going on in the social media world. I know that maybe all of this seems shallow, but maybe I am. I just like my world.

And then I see one friend after another holding their little ones in their arms and know that’s what I want. But it will stop my life. I will take at least a month off. Do you know what can happen in a month? Too much. I’ll be behind. I won’t know what’s going on. And what happens if I just want to stare at this kid all day? Or worse yet, what if I ignore Cesare the Super Kitten? I don’t like it. I don’t like it at all.

Okay, so I’m probably not going to be the mom that wants to stare at her kid all day. And Cesare will get loads of love no matter who is in my life. But I am really scared of the pause I’d have to take. It’s a huge pause. And life moves so fast… I might miss something. I don’t want to miss anything.

I guess I’m glad I’m not the only girl out there scared of this, but it makes me wonder… How far along are they with the whole guys having the babies thing? Do you think that could happen in say the next five years? And are they possibly looking for volunteers for that?

I have a new pet peeve. I know… SHOCKING! Luckily, I know this mistake is coming from a warm and loving place, so I haven’t really been calling people out on it. Well, except for now.

There’s an old saying that goes, “Just because you can doesn’t mean you should.” And just because you can share Facebook posts doesn’t mean you should. And just because YouTube taught me how to make a shiv doesn’t mean I’ve done it… and that it’s hidden in a drawer…. in my kitchen… waiting.

There are lots of great examples of sharing on Facebook, but if you’re about to press send on a post that looks like this… STOP. And not just because you should really take some time to admire the cuteness of this cat.

The most fundamental mistake that I’m seeing lately is that people are just pressing send and not adding any language.  There are lots of reasons why this is wrong:

• Link: Do you want people to click on it? If you’re sharing it, I would assume yes, but hey, I share links for just for laughs too. And if you don’t add some descriptive language, that’s just what you did. When you click share on a link, it literally just brings the link over and leaves the other person’s language out. So be sure to tell your fans why you’re sharing and why they should click. And also, make sure that you’re comfortable sharing space with that other person that you’re sharing from. Because if your fans are fans of their page, those two posts will be linked.
• Photo: Okay, it’s great that you want to share this cute cat’s photo, but why? Give it some context to make it a more effective post. Ask a question, so that you can get some interaction. Just make the post yours and not just a piggyback post.

• Video: This is the same as with a link. If you actually want someone to watch this video, tell us about it. Or else it will go into never never land, because never shall there be a single person watching it. Great descriptive language is especially needed, because videos need some extra massaging. You’re actually asking people to actually commit time to your post. Make sure it’s worth it and that you make it sound worth it.
• Status Update: I haven’t really seen this one used effectively. Yes, the hotel in your area has a great deal and you want to tell your fans. I totally get that. But, the text gets grayed. I, like others, skim. My eyes go to the black text, not the gray. And your share is totally lost. Give an anecdote about the hotel. Ask who has stayed there. Just post SOMETHING. My eyes really want to see that pretty black text so they can stop. And to be honest, this is why pictures do better. My eyes always stop on something colorful before black text and definitely before gray. So if you’re drawing attention to lots of gray text, be sure that there isn’t a better way to do it first. And remember that you can always tag the page to give them some love.

I know we have lots of great partners that we want to give lots of love to. Do it and do it big. Just make sure that you’re doing it effectively.

What are you seeing out in the wild of bad Facebook posts?

I have lots that I want to write about right now. There was the wonderfulness of meeting Katie Cook in Austin. There was the all over glowy feeling I had from running the Austin Half Marathon. And there’s a lot of social stuff that gets me inspired too. There’s almost so much that I’m at the point of being paralyzed. And I want to make sure anything I write about Katie or the half is carefully done and really shows the feelings both of these events brought into my life.

With all of this happiness going on in my head, it’s making the dark side of social much less tolerable. I get that we as humans like to smell blood in the water and take down the powerful. Hell, they don’t even have to be powerful. We just like to see people go down for the sake of going down. And every time someone makes a social mis-step, we all get that look of glee on our faces that ends up fueling hundreds of blog posts and countless tweets.

Here’s the thing: It sucks. Pitchfork mobs don’t get anything done. All they do is make people want to avoid them. They crush innovation and make us go the way of worker drones just trying to get by under the radar. And for us tourism geeks that are trying to do something awesome, they spell death. They make bosses more weary and less likely to touch something that could cause controversy.

It also hurts real feelings. Take a step back before you write that blog post or that tweet. Remember that who you are attacking is a real-life person, likely trying to do the best they can. They may have made a well-meaning mistake or they may just have some learning to do. Jumping on them and trying to make them look like an idiot doesn’t help. Perhaps coming from a sense of learning and an email will better suit what the situation requires.

And on the subject of emails… Why are we trying to publicly humiliate people with these tweets and blog posts? Why aren’t we taking that second to send a private message to see what’s really going on? It takes thousands upon thousands of tweets to build a reputation, but it can take just your one tweet to ruin a person’s reputation forever.

Am I guilty of some of these sins? Yes. And I really hate that I am. I think I did it out ignorance, rather than an real malevolence. And yes, I’m a terrible gossip. Going forward I pledge to try to lift more people up and to try not to tear them down when possible. I will try to work on the gossiping. “Try” being the key word… Who is with me?

I’ve been missing lately but it’s all for good reasons. I went to Austin and then Knoxville. And somehow two jobs still had to happen. So yes, busy is an understatement.

I couldn’t let this anniversary pass without a bit of reflection though. A year ago today, I said to the guy I live with, “I think I’m going to go out for a run.” And as he was getting ready to go bowling, I started to feel nauseous, tired, the light was bothering me and I had an intense pain in my head. All it took was a few minutes and I was down for what turned out to be a month and a half. We of course had no clue it was going to be this serious and we had no idea the amount of emotions I was about to go through or how long it would take me to recover physically and emotionally. But this was easily one of the most trying moments of my life.

For the rest of 2011, I spent a lot of time afraid of headaches. And hell, I was afraid of a lot of other things too. I had mysterious illnesses that kept popping up and it took a long time for my doctor to string them all together to finally make a diagnosis that included why I might have had a migraine for a month and a half. Just exactly how long? Nine months. I know that sounds ridiculous, but I do thank God that I have a doctor that listens and didn’t write me off like many others have. The amount of time doesn’t matter as much as the fact that I am better matters.

So how far have I come over the last year? I have way more confidence than I ever have had. I’m taking on more challenges and pushing myself to the absolute limit. Illness is no longer holding me back. I am now on medication that has made running possible again. I ran the Austin Half Marathon, ill-prepared but I did it. I am signed up for the Chicago Marathon in October and plan on doing the Cap City Half in May. This is after being scared that my body may just not react well to running and that I might have to give it up all together.  Now, I have no worries of that whatsoever.

I am taking on more leadership roles within my communities. And I’ve learned with that that if you are on the rise and taking ownership, people are going to hate on you. A year ago, if I read something nasty, I would have curled up in a ball crying. Now, I wail about it for a bit and keep trucking. (Just as an aside, remember that when you post comments about people on social networks, especially in areas where friends of the person can see it, it’s not private. It will get back to those them and that’s just cruel.) Developing a thicker skin in the last year was definitely important to me as I had gotten to the point where I couldn’t move at all. I still have a ways to go (I’d like to not even acknowledge it), but I’m getting there.

And work-wise, I’m doing fabulous. I’ve always been the person that didn’t like working eight hour days, because then I had to figure out what to do with the other hours in the day. And work is fun. Especially when you love what you are doing. Being able to have a full-time job with people that I thoroughly enjoy and then at night coming home to do some of my favorite stuff is just awesome. It’s making me feel like I’m in the right place doing the right things. How many people can honestly say that?

So a year later, things are good. I hate that it had to start from something so terrible, but it’s moved me into something so good. And sometimes we need to get through the dark so we can appreciate how beautiful the light is. And God, I love dancing in the sunlight right now.

The guy I live with: Let’s hashtag that.

Me: I don’t think you know what that means.

The guy I live with: No, but it’s on commercials, so I’m gonna use it.

Hashtag abuse is kind of running rampant  later. Some of it is naivety and some of it is downright spamming. Either way, it’s just downright annoying.

What is a hashtag?

A hashtag is the pound sign (#) followed by a keyword or agreed upon term. It can be used to index your tweets around an event or a product or it can be used to express your thoughts as an aside (i.e. “We offer sweatpants at the visitors center when you’re all done! #FullServiceCVB”) A common usage is to use it for Twitter chats, such as #tourismchat, so that you can talk about a topic at an agreed upon time. For most Twitter chats, the hashtag is used even during non-designated times so that you can ask questions or share information. All, except the aside usage, make your tweets more readily found in Twitter search.

So I should hashtag the hell out of everything right?

If you like Angry Betsy, do that. I’ll unfollow you so fast…

If you are looking to hashtag your tweet for a chat, make sure that you are familiar with the purpose of the chat. You can simply do a quick search on the hashtag to find out that information (look for the type of information that is shared the most). If you are still confused, shoot a tweet over to the host or co-hosts. The reason why these people founded these chats was to help people like you out, so they are more than happy to answer your questions.

If you are hashtagging around a keyword, think if anyone will actually search that keyword. I don’t know too many people that will search #travel when looking for a place to go in North Dakota. And to be honest, I don’t know too many people that search hashtagged keywords when trying to find information. I never do. I would limit this kind of hashtagging, especially because of readability issues. Does any body really want to read a tweet that looks like this, “We are #fishing in #Michigan today. Hoping to #catch a #smallmouthbass!” No. Every hashtag you add lessens its readability score. If I were writing this same tweet, I would get rid of all the hashtags and consider ending it with #michiganfishing or #mifishing. More direct and to the kind of audience you might be trying to reach.

What happens when I screw up?

Y’all did see the Angry Betsy thing right??

A Twitter chat is the worst hashtag to abuse. Let’s say someone was hashtagging their tweets with #tourismchat to promote the great deals at their hotel or just simply sharing irrelevant information. I don’t look at their profile. I simply hit spam. Some people are more forgiving than me (See Anne), but even those people have their limits. Getting marked as spam blocks you from accounts you might have wanted to connect with and in the worst case scenario, can get your account completely deleted. Kind of not what you want to happen, right?

And then a tweet that is just hashtagged to death with keywords almost always gets skipped over. I can’t read it and I don’t care to spend the extra time to decipher it. I, like most Twitter users, am a skimmer. If your tweet takes more than a skim to read, I am not going to stop even if it is the greatest tweet ever written. Which it can’t be. Because the greatest tweet ever written would at most have one hashtag. So if getting your tweet read is important to you (hey, it’s not always important to me, so I understand if it’s not), then I would suggest leaving a hashtag or two at home.

I can’t stress this enough: If you get confused, ask. I don’t know anyone that is good at social that wouldn’t stop to help someone that truly wants to learn something, especially when it comes to the correct usage of hashtags.

So have you seen any blatant hashtag abuse that makes you want to poke your eyes out?