第2868期:Hashtag

We're talking about hashtags. Hashtags for Twitter.我们今天要谈的是标签（hashtag）。Twitter 上使用的标签。I'll stop you right there, Jackie.杰姬，我先打断你一下。You know I don't know hardly anything about Twitter whatsoever, but can you just clarify for me the difference between the hashtag and I've also seen the at symbol used for Twitter.你知道我对 Twitter 几乎一无所知，不过你能不能帮我解释一下 hashtag 和我在 Twitter 上看到的 @ 符号之间的区别？OK. So, the hashtag is basically a way for people to search for tweets that have the same topic or specific theme, whereas the at symbol is followed by the username.好的。Hashtag 基本上是一种让人们搜索同一主题或特定话题推文的方法，而 @ 符号后面则接的是用户名。It's the person's Twitter handle. It's used by a specific user.那是一个人的 Twitter 帐号，也就是某个特定用户使用的标识。Okidoki.好的，明白了。So, if we take the British Council or any other language organisations, learners or teachers of English, if they put in hashtag EFL, then they'll find all the tweets put up by people interested in that topic – English as a foreign language.例如，如果我们以英国文化协会或其他语言机构为例，英语学习者或教师输入 #EFL，他们就能看到所有有关该主题（英语作为外语）的推文。Right, OK. So, it's a bit like just simply Googling a topic.好，明白。所以这有点像直接用 Google 搜索一个主题。Exactly. But if you want to write someone, you'd put at.没错。但如果你想写信给某个人，你就用 @。Right. You're writing directly to that user.对，你是在直接留言给该用户。OK. So, anybody can make up a hashtag then on any topic they want?所以任何人都可以随意创建一个 hashtag，对任何主题都可以吗？Yes.是的。So, what's the issue then with businesses or organisations using the hashtag?那么企业或组织在使用 hashtag 时会遇到什么问题？Well, as we've said, the hashtags are shared, OK? So, if you take the University of Georgia, their hashtag is UGA, OK?如我们之前说过，hashtag 是共享的。比如佐治亚大学，他们的 hashtag 是 UGA。Right.好。Now, the problem is that during the Olympics, UGA was the three-letter code used by... Uganda.问题是，在奥运会期间，UGA 也是乌干达的三字母代码。Exactly.没错。And Twitter decided that all countries with their three-letter code would have a little flag attached to the code. So, it was hashtag UGA with a Ugandan flag.Twitter 决定所有国家的三字母代码都会附上一个小国旗。所以 #UGA 就自动加上了乌干达国旗。Right, OK.好，我知道了。So, the University of Georgia, which is American, their hashtag suddenly had a Ugandan flag attached to it.所以美国的佐治亚大学，他们的 hashtag 突然变成带有乌干达国旗的 #UGA。And people got confused when they were making searches, presumably.而用户在搜索时自然就产生了困惑。Well, exactly.完全正确。So, hashtag GBR for the Great Barrier Reef suddenly had a Union Jack.例如，大堡礁（Great Barrier Reef）的 hashtag #GBR 也突然变成带有英国国旗。For the great British Olympic team.因为英国奥运队的国家代码也是 GBR。Yeah.没错。So, businesses kind of had... you have to be careful that you might have your hashtag hijacked.所以企业必须小心，因为你的 hashtag 可能会被“挟持”。Mmm.嗯。Now, going back to hashtag EFL, right?回到 #EFL 这个例子。Yes. English as a foreign language.对，英语作为外语。Now, the problem there is the Football League in the UK, you're probably aware, has been completely rebranded.问题在于英国的足球联盟（Football League），你可能知道，他们已经完全重新品牌化。Yes.是的。They've got the Premier League but the other teams are in different leagues. They've branded themselves now as the English Football League. With their new logo.除了英超联赛，其他球队组成的联盟现在改名为“英格兰足球联赛”（English Football League），并启用了新的标志。So, they have started a Twitter account. They have a Twitter handle, at EFL.他们开了一个 Twitter 帐号，账号名称是 @EFL。Right.好。But if anyone puts the hashtag EFL, they'll get a mixture of the English Football League and English as a foreign language.但如果有人使用 hashtag #EFL，他们会同时看到英语足球联赛和英语作为外语两方面的内容。Exactly. It's like getting information about goals, like getting information about football rather than phonology.没错——你会看到进球信息，而不是语音学内容。Right, OK.好，我明白了。So, if you're a company, you've got to be very careful about what hashtags you choose for your company.所以，如果你是企业，你必须非常小心选择你的 hashtag。And we certainly can't use hashtag pie for obvious reasons.而我们当然不能用 #pie，这原因显而易见。Yes, exactly. So, businesses, just maybe do a little research before you choose the hashtag that goes with your tweet.没错。因此企业在选择 hashtag 时，最好先做一点研究。