Twitter testing auto-complete for hashtags on the web

Twitter has been making subtle changes to the web version of the service lately. While it has been testing the translate feature in some markets now, it has also been testing the embed feature on and off on the website. Now, it looks like Twitter has been testing a feature that lets you auto-complete hashtags based on what has been trending currently.

Quite like how Twitter throws up suggestions to help you auto-complete handles and names while composing a new tweet, it now seems to be prompting you to choose from a list of trending hashtags when you start entering one. When you try to add a hashtag to your tweet, the service will now try and match the letters you’re entering to the topics that are been trending currently.

Try using auto-complete for your hashtags

This move could help you discover what topics people around you are talking about currently. It will also help you figure out what hashtags people have been using for a common event right now. Say, you are tweeting about a match between India and Sri Lanka taking place ion West Indies currently. Even as you start typing “#IndSL”, Twitter will prompt you to select “#IndvsSL” instead. This will add your tweet to the hashtag page and encourage discussion. This feature will help you cut down on those annoying spelling errors too. This will also help Twitter pass on data to third-party services in a more organised fashion.

Twitter has been experimenting with a lot of features recently and this seems to be one of them. In the absence of an official announcement, we cannot be sure whether this feature is in test mode or not. It isn’t clear whether the feature has been rolled out world-wide as well. Make the most of the hashtag auto-completer while you can.