#what? Twitter begins testing a new service that spells out hashtags to stop people becoming confused
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Do you know what #tbt means, or what #oitnb is referring to?
If you don't, Twitter is hoping to make things a little clearer with a new feature that has been spotted on its iOS app.
The tool, first seen by Wall Street Journal, attempts to make popular hashtags easier to identify by decoding them automatically.
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According to screengrabs taken by Wall Street Journal, select hashtags now reveal the full term underneath. For example, #OITNB is labelled 'Orange Is The New Black' (pictured left) in reference to the Netflix show. Shortened terms, such as #manutd, which stands for Manchester United, are labelled too
According to screengrabs taken by the New York-based site, select hashtags that feature acronyms now reveal the full term beneath.
For example, #OITNB is labelled 'Orange Is The New Black' in reference to the Netflix show.
This also includes common acronyms used regularly across social networks, such as #tbt for Throwback Thursday - referring to the day of the week users post old photos or make references to past events.
Shortened terms are also explained, as seen in the WSJ examples, with #manutd being labelled with Manchester United.
Although hashtags are used across social networks, they are synonymous with Twitter and have been criticised for being difficult to use or follow.
Twitter even has a support page that explains what hashtags are, and how best to use them.
As WSJ explained, however, not all hashtags are decoded and terms such as #MH17 – which refers to the Malaysian Airlines flight that crashed in Ukraine last month - are not explained.
This also includes common acronyms used regularly across social networks, such as #tbt for Throwback Thursday - referring to the day of the week users post old photos or make references to past event (pictured)
Although hashtags are used across social networks, they are synonymous with Twitter and have been criticised for being difficult to use. Twitter even has a support page (pictured) that explains what hashtags are, and how best to use them
Not all hashtags are decoded, and terms such as #MH17 (pictured) appear without explanation
People use the hashtag symbol # before a relevant keyword or phrase in tweet to categorise them, and help them appear more easily in Twitter Search.
Clicking on a hashtagged word in any message shows all other tweets marked with that keyword, and is a good way to keep on top of breaking news, for example.
Hashtags can occur anywhere in the tweet – at the beginning, middle, or end – and hashtagged words that become popular often become a Trending Topic.
It is unclear whether the feature will be rolled out more widely, and whether it will also be used on Android and desktop versions of the site.
Twitter, and other sites, often test features that aren't implemented.
For example, in March, users noticed the iconic retweet and quote tweets options had been replaced with 'Share with followers', and 'First add comment' buttons.
These are yet to be rolled out to all users.
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