#OWS Replaces #OccupyWallStreet as Default Twitter Hashtag
When the Occupy Wall Street protests began on September 16, #OccupyWallStreet was the only related hashtag used on Twitter. Soon some folks started using #OccupyWallSt too.
Shorter is better on Twitter, since you only have 140 characters to say your piece, so when the protests really started getting media traction with the arrests of Saturday, September 26 some folks started using #OWS as a zippier alternative. That tag didn’t really catch on until this last Wednesday, though, when the folks behind @OccupyWallSt tweeted this:
@OccupyWallSt: Let’s stop the hash tag soup and use #ows for OccupyWallStreet
That tweet had an immediate and powerful effect.
#OWS, represented in yellow on the chart