So there’s this little thing called Hashtag games [which i wrote this article about for 1Africa.tv] which i got into while i was in Americaland.
Someone comes up with a clever Hashtag, something like #WaterACelebrity and then anyone in the world who is on the Twitterer plugs into their creative minds and tries to come up with clever or witty responses.
So examples might be: Sea-gourney Weaver, Drip Torn or Harrison Fjord.
In the last two years of so Hashtag Games have kinda exploded and there is now and app [where you can keep track of the latest games – four or five per day and that’s just the official ones] and a live show hosted by @midnight on @ComedyCentral with three Comedian Improv guests who compete live while the virtual audience sends in their best suggestions on a topic. [@midnight has 459 000 followers to give it some perspective]
Some of the games offer actual prizes but most of the fame is to be held in bragging rights for making a top ten list or being featured for a second on the @midnight show or simply by the number of Favourites and Retweets your tweet gets.
A few weeks ago i was fortunate enough to be invited to co-host a game with @HashtagShenanigans creator @breezypuffs [quite possibly not her real name, which is probably Doris or Euveladia] and we kicked some butt for a couple of hours retweeting and favouriting and keeping it alive. Our tag, which Breezy came up with was: #IShouldAlwaysWishFor and it did not do too badly.
#1 in LA #IShouldAlwaysWishFor Todays @HashtagShenani game with Co-Host @BrettFishA in South Africa & Sponsors @CrazyDogTShirts in NY
— Hashtag Shenanigans (@HashtagShenani) September 9, 2015
Another aim of the Hashtag Games is to become a Trending Topic in as many places as possible. A successful tag might trend in the States for a couple of hours or if it goes really wild, even days…
SOUTH AFRICA STEPS UP
The only African Hashtag Game runner i am aware of is a guy who calls himself The Hashtag Prophet and can be found @YahBoiSelfie [He operates from Mombasa, Kenya] and so i thought it was high time South Africa jumped on to that map.
A serious of fortunate events came together to bring this about. A while back i came up with what i think is the pretty amazing Twitterer address of @AFrikkinHashtag [say it out loud, ah yessss]. Then this morning i made French Toast for tbV and she pointed out that my first piece arrived looking like Africa:
Then i was chatting to Chris [@LouGeese] and suggested the tag #CountryAFood which no-one had done in that exact wording yet and he suggested i go for it. So i set up the @AFrikkinHashtag account and started tweeting and @LouGeese [who has a LOT more followers than i do] jumped on and helped me spread the word and pretty soon it was trending #14 in the States. Africa French Toast became my game’s profile pic.
Not bad for a first go.
It has largely slowed down now, but looking at a stats program, it looks like we reached a total audience of 1.518.866 with over 350 people playing and creating 1500 tweets.
There were some really good ones, but these stood out for me as a possible Top Ten, in no particular order:
#CountryAFood The United Steaks of America with @AFrikkinHashtag
— Thomas Zuckerman (@AFrikkinHashtag) October 10, 2015
Trinidad and Two Bagels #CountryAFood
— Jared Montana (@Jarmadillos) October 10, 2015
I can’t Belize how Hungary I am – I’m going to Norway at this Turkey #CountryAFood
— Adrian Lui (@adrianlui) October 10, 2015
Japan Fried Chicken #CountryAFood pic.twitter.com/4n5eC6AyVT
— Christopher No Body (@LouGeese) October 10, 2015
Uz-Brekkie-Stan #CountryAFood
— Paul Clarkson. (@clarkson1977) October 10, 2015
ZimKebabwe #CountryAFood
— Jamie Hogan (@FCTwenteBenson) October 10, 2015
Japancakes & Syriap #CountryAFood
— Derrek Niles (@DeeNiled) October 10, 2015
#CountryAFood Scottage cheese
— Roger*B (@rockyroger) October 10, 2015
#CountryAFood Chad, Kenya cook me some spaghaiti, I’m Hungary. There’s no Russia. If you Bern it though, there’s Norway I’m Ghana eat it.
— Deirdre O’Connell (@Deirdreocx) October 10, 2015
El Salvadoritos #CountryAFoodpic.twitter.com/e8W3MGFgCn
— joshingstern (@joshingstern) October 10, 2015
Although to be fair, the one that keeps popping up that i think i really enjoyed the most was in fact, who came up with ‘Trinidad and Two Bagels’. Great stuff, Jared, you’re on the hypothetical virtual invisible friend African scoreboard.
It’s silly, but it’s a lot of fun and an opportunity to get your Improv on and get your creativity going and a chance to meet a bunch of interesting people and who knows what else.
So there you have it. If you’re on the Twitterer you might want to add me @brettfisha and if you want to take part in the next African version of Hashtag Games then make sure you are following @AFrikkinHashtag so you can hear when it is.
Til then. Don’t be the person who puts the ‘TWIT’ in ‘Twitterer’…
[See how South Africa joined the International Hashtagging community over here]
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