According to the Wall Street Journal:
Facebook is working on incorporating the hashtag, one of Twitter’s most iconic markers, into its service by using the symbol as a way to group conversations, said people familiar with the matter. It is unclear how far along Facebook’s work on the hashtag is and the feature isn’t likely to be introduced imminently, these people said.
Why does Facebook need hashtags? One answer can be found in these statistics:
- 38% of Superbowl 2013 commercials included a Twitter hashtag.
- Only 7% of Superbowl 2013 commercials mentioned their Facebook link, which is a decrease of 4% from Superbowl 2012.
Why also do this? The kids aren’t on Facebook and Facebook needs to get the kids back into the picture.
An improved hashtag search not only allows brands to reach more people, but opens up Facebook users to find other users outside of their circle of friends and family.
In short, Facebook becomes more interesting to more people by being more open.