Facebook has added a ‘hashtag’ feature, one of the most popular features of its rival Twitter, to assists its users in tracking popular topics being discussed on the social network.
Addition of the "#" sign to a word will transform it into a clickable link, which brings up a feed of discussions by other people on the specific topic of conversation within a social network’s stream of user comments.
Being adopted as part of its efforts to complement Web service with television, sporting events and breaking news, the move enables users to group comments on the same topic by typing the hashtag beside a keyword at the end of a post.
Hashtags also allow users of social networking sites to join online conversations including political debates, TVshows and sports, while it also facilitates advertisers to target a particular audience.
Facebook said in a statement that clicking a hashtag would bring up a chronologically ordered list of comments using the same term which includes posts from unknown people and pages.
"Hashtags are just the first step to help people more easily discover what others are saying about a specific topic and participate in public conversations," social networking firm said.
"We’ll continue to roll out more features in the coming weeks and months, including trending hashtags and deeper insights, that help people discover more of the world’s conversations."
Hashtags are also supported by other services including Pinterest, Tumblr, Google+, Sina Weibo, LinkedIn and Facebook’s Instagram.
