How to Use Hashtags in BuddyNext

How to use hashtags in BuddyNext, step by step. Type a hash sign and a word in a post or comment, and it becomes a link to that hashtag's page, which gathers the public posts on the topic with Latest, Top and Following only tabs. Follow a hashtag to add its posts to your For you feed. The site owner bans hashtags under BuddyNext, then Automation, then Controls, and switches the feature on or off under BuddyNext, then Platform, then Features.

Transcript

In this tutorial you will use hashtags in BuddyNext. A hashtag turns a word in a post into a link to everything on that topic. You need BuddyNext, the free plugin. Hashtags are on from the start. It takes about three minutes. There are five steps. Write a hashtag. Open a hashtag page. Follow a hashtag. Find popular hashtags. Then ban a hashtag. Step one. Write a hashtag. Sign in as a member, and write a post. Type a hash sign, then a word, with no space between them. As you type, a short list offers hashtags the community already uses. Pick one to reuse it, or keep typing to start a new one. A hashtag starts with a letter, and can hold letters, numbers and underscores. A space or a hyphen ends it. Capital letters do not matter. It becomes a link when you post, and the same works in comments. Step two. Open a hashtag page. In any post, a hashtag is a link. Click it. Each hashtag has its own page. At the top are the number of posts, the number of people who used it, and the day it was first used. Under that are the posts. Latest shows the newest first. Top puts the posts with the most reactions, comments and shares first. Following only keeps the posts from people you follow. Step three. Follow a hashtag. On its page, click the Follow button beside the name. Click it again to stop. It is not clicked here. Posts that use a hashtag you follow are added to the For you tab of your feed. You only get the ones you are allowed to see. The box named Related hashtags lists tags that were used in the same posts, each with its own Follow button. Step four. Find popular hashtags. Beside the feed is a card named Trending Topics. It lists the five hashtags used most this week. Each row is a link to that hashtag's page. A visitor who is not signed in can open these pages too, and sees the public posts. Step five. Ban a hashtag. In your WordPress admin, open BuddyNext, then Automation, then Controls. Under Banned hashtags, type one on each line, without the hash sign. A post or a comment that uses a banned hashtag is refused, and the writer is told that hashtag is not allowed. To turn hashtags off altogether, open Platform, then Features, and switch off Hashtags. They then show as plain words. That is all five. A hashtag written, its page opened, a hashtag followed, the popular ones found, and the place to ban one located. Your members can now gather a topic in one place, and follow the ones they care about. Next in this series: Mention a member.