Is it too easy to spam Twitter by using hashtags?
Some people think it might be. Twitter users started using hashtags - a # followed by a unique bit of text - to help them follow conversations. Through some eerie demonstration of the hive mind, Twitter users usually come to a consensus on the tag or tags for an event or topic.
As with email and blog trackbacks, anything that becomes successful on the web ultimately becomes the target of spammers. Users began to notice a few months ago that tweets on popular hashtags often contained marketing messages or links to porn.
Upscale furniture maker Habitat was caught out last month when marketers working for the company used hashtags, even ones related to the disputed Iranian election, to promote its "totally desirable Spring collection". Twitter users cried foul, and Habitat apologised.
