Should we try to trade mark a Twitter #hashtag?
Social media has become an integral part of marketing strategy for consumer products, with many phrases, straplines and brands being devised specifically for targeted campaigns and used with a hashtag.
A hashtag is simply a way for people to search for conversations on Twitter relating to a particular topic. Brand owners who want to generate a buzz on Twitter around their brand can run a campaign for people to use a particular hashtag when discussing their product or business, making it possible for clever marketers to use phrases or words as part of a particular campaign. But in a highly competitive world how does a brand owner protect the effort put into such campaign branding? And, if they protect it, how do they control it?