Facebook is preparing to take on Twitter by adopting the messaging service’s iconic hashtag symbol. Users of globally popular one-to-many messaging service Twitter use # or pound symbols as a hashtag to indicate subjects in tweets.
Facebook is using the mark, most well-known in the Twitterverse, to group conversations, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The style is such an entrenched part of the Twitter language that the San Francisco-based company added a hashtag search feature to make it easy for users to find messages focused on themes or happenings of interest.
Facebook will use the hashtag to index conversations likely because the hashtag is used a lot on Instagram, which the social network bought last year.
Facebook has been slowly using many of Twitter’s features, including creating subscriber lists and tagging people with the @ sign. The hashtag, which Twitter followers created five years ago, also plays a role in marketing for well-known brands. Strangely, there was no comment from Twitter on the new Facebook development.
Facebook is testing use of the symbol but that the feature is not likely to be introduced any time soon.