Twitter will have hashtag pages for events, not brands

Yesterday we reported that via their first television commercial, Twitter may have displayed a message to marketers that they may be able to have brand pages. However, Twitter has since then issued a correction saying that it's not specifically hashtag pages for brands, rather they're for events. According to Mashable, the project was a collaboration between Twitter and NASCAR, however, the latter had no editorial control over what was displayed on the #NASCAR hashtag page. This means that the pages are for events really, not brands. Twitter had launched the #NASCAR hashtag page and displayed it in the NASCAR commercial to curate content for a NASCAR race that took place on Sunday, the 2012 Pocono 400. Twitter says that the idea behind the hashtag page was to engage users with the race, not the brand.

The hashtag page that Twitter created gathered content, including tweets and photos, from not only fans, but also drivers, their families, commentators, pit crews, celebrities and media. The microblog used an algorithm to gather this content as well as human eyes to curate it. They say they plan to continue using the twitter.com/#/NASCAR page for future races. Twitter hasn't specified as to which other events it would create hashtag pages and curate content for, but they say they are committed to creating pages to build compelling consumer experiences. We can guess that more examples of these events will include sports and ceremonies, like the Oscars and Grammys. Even individuals who are not on Twitter can view the hashtag page for NASCAR.

Twitter also put out its first television commercial, which advertised its NASCAR page (and the NASCAR and Twitter partnership). The commercial led marketers to believe that brands may just get their own page on Twitter, much like the pages that they have on Facebook and of course, that led to significant excitement. The commercial displayed the link to the NASCAR hashtag page, but it was Business Insider who first reported that the link would lead to more than just the page that turns up when you search for a specific hashtag on Twitter. Marketers also got excited because it seemed like they could curate content on their hashtag pages, but of course, they would be disappointed to learn that Twitter maintains full curation control.