Note: this is my 500th post! :)
Today, the City of Lethbridge (where Hot Pepper Communications is located) lifted a two-day boil water order and local state of emergency. Because of unusually warm weather last weekend and earlier this week, mountain snowpack melted more quickly than normal. As it made its way to the Old Man River (our main water source), it brought with it extra dirt and pathogens from ranchlands, farms, and feedlots. The local health authority and the municipal government issued the emergency as a way to conserve water and get the system back to normal functioning levels.
As part of the communication strategy for the emergency, the city’s communications office decided to use the hashtag #conserveH2O for citizens to get real-time updates and to communicate online regarding the situation.
Unfortunately, because of English speakers’ tendency to pronounce zero as “oh”, a second hashtag emerged: #conserveH20. In fact, even the city’s Twitter account and local media started using the second hashtag.
Let alone the fact that water is H2O and not H20, making the second hashtag nonsensical, having two hashtags is confusing, and it’s unrealistic to expect Twitter users to have to check both.
It’s not the city’s fault that some people misspelled the hashtag or that the bastardized version became popular, but this is a lesson for anyone planning to introduce a hashtag. Make sure you thoroughly research all issues and conflicts before proceeding.
Also, check out Brooke Howell’s article, Are You Using the Wrong Hashtags for Social Media Marketing?
