Technical Writing ToolBox

Twitter  is becoming a useful media for sharing information. Many technical writers (including me; my twitter id is @gurpreetwrites) have started using this media to spread information, news, and sometimes their opinion about technical writing. Tom Johnson also blogged about using hashtags on mobile.

The # symbol, called a hashtag, is used to mark keywords or topics in a Tweet. A hashtag makes it easier to follow a particular profession (such as technical writing or software development) or an event (such as conference).

Twitter help provides following guidelines for using hashtags (read the complete list here):

• People use the hashtag symbol # before relevant keywords (no spaces) in their Tweet to categorize those Tweets and help them show more easily in Twitter Search.
• Clicking on a hashtagged word in any message shows you all other Tweets in that category.
• Hashtags can occur anywhere in the Tweet – at the beginning, middle, or end.
• Hashtagged words that become very popular are often Trending Topics.
• Do not spam hashtags in your twitter post.
• Best practices recommend using no more than 2 hashtags per Tweet.

When I started using Twitter, I tried to find more information about technical writing and wanted to use the correct hashtags for following the latest trends in the field of technical communication. Unfortunately, there were not many resource available that could offer a list of the most commonly used hashtags for technical writing industry.

Over the years I’ve compiled a list of  hashtags relevant to technical writing industry which I often use. They are:

1. #TechComm

The most popular hashtag for technical communicators, technical writers,  authors and editors who develop end-user documentation. Another variant, used by few, is #TechComms (notice the last s, yes!).

2. #ContentStrategy

Another popular hashtag for content strategist and others interested in information architecture.

3. #TechnicalWriting

Technical Writing, as the name depicts, is a hashtag for all information related to technical writing.

4. #TechWriter

Another variant of #TechnicalWriting is #TechWriter and is used by many technical writers and mailing lists including TechWhirl (techwr-l).

Update (15/4/2012): Al Martine from TechWhirl suggested using #TechCommNews for accessing TechWhirl’s news publication.

5. #DITA

If you use Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA), then use this hashtag to check latest trends in DITA. DITA is an OASIS standard XML data model for authoring and publishing and is endorsed by many technical writing experts.

6. #ux

A hashtag to keep track of latest developments in the field of usability.

7. #AdobeTCS

Do you use Adobe Technical Communication Suite at work? Use this tag to check the latest updates, tutorials and use experience about this suite.

8. #RoboHelp

I started using RoboHelp since its X3 version and today I’m using RoboHelp 9. If you also use RoboHelp then use this hashtag to keep informed about latest developments in RoboHelp.

9. #AdobeCaptivate

A picture says a thousand words. What about a video? If you use Captivate to create video tutorials then use this hashtag to keep yourself updated.

10.#FrameMaker

Use this hashtag to keep informed about latest developments in FrameMaker.

What do you think about this article? Which hashtags do you use to search technical writing trends? Leave a comment and let me know.