A brand new member joined Film Annex earlier this week. It's a 70 inch flat screen monitor/TV. It's our new best friend here in the office. Today, thanks to our new friend (I'm sure we'll give it a name sooner or later), we had a pretty fruitful meeting about building communities around hashtags.
Why do hashtags matter? Because in today's fast-paced, information-filled world, hashtags are brief enough to draw attention to specific topics. Moreover, they can be used for creating a brand whether it be a company or a person. Everyone here at Film Annex has a number of keywords attached to them. We use these keywords to define what we do. Here are some of mine:
Film Annex
Eren's Picks
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Social film
Online film distribution
Online film financing
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Democratizing film
Reinventing film distribution
Reinventing film financing
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Now, by turning these keywords into hashtags, i.e. #erenspicks, and asking the filmmakers on Eren's Picks to do the same, I'm turning Eren's Picks into an active community, in which filmmakers and viewers can easily find each other, watch quality films, and connect with each other for new productions.
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Another good example is #onlinefilmfinancing. All our filmmakers know that Film Annex's financing model is unique and based on advertising revenue. By using online film financing as a hashtag, once again, we're bringing together everyone who recognizes and uses this model to fund their films. Moreover, we're attracting the attention of those who also talk about online film financing and asking them to join our circle. This way, we're adding new people and ideas to our group, working to expand the meaning of and the possibilities that come with online film financing not just on Film Annex, but on other platforms as well.
If it weren't for the use of hashtags, the world would not know anything about what is going on in Turkey right now due to Turkish media's refusal to air the current protests of the people against Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. But thanks to the wide usage of hashtags such as #occupygezi and #resisturkey by both Turkish and non-Turkish people (including Patti Smith!), foreign media gave this cause a huge recognition.
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So, I guess the question is... What's your hashtag?
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Till next week,
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