For some time now, Xpress has helped to create and cultivate Twitter hashtags to better aggregate the news and offer a forum for people from around the community.
Using hashtags in twitter is easy, just put the # sign in front of a series of letters, and everyone following that hashtag will see your comments. The hashtags below — the ones Xpress routinely posts to — occasionally serve as a site for live coverage of events as well as general news or remarks. For example, reporters, citizens and local officials all use the #avlgov hashtag to report news, ask questions, express their opinions and even make the occasional snarky remark about local government. This post contains links to the relevant hashtags too, so people who don’t feel like using Twitter can take a look if they wish.
While all of the below hashtags heat up at various times — around big news events, for example — they remain in use constantly. There’s no constraint to posting your opinions, questions or observations there.
avlnews This is the general hashtag for news around the Asheville area. Most Xpress news articles are posted under this hashtag, along with general commentary about the news of the day.
avlent This is the overall hashtag for arts and entertainment of all varieties in the Asheville area, including performances and big announcements.
avlgov Events concerning local government go under this hashtag. Live Twitter coverage of Asheville City Council, Buncombe County Board of Commissioners also goes under this tag.
avleat Food news and developments, from what local places are serving to thoughts on restaurants and local food culture.
avlbiz Asheville business news. If you’re looking for openings, closings, expansions or other economic news, this is the place. Live coverage of economic forums or events sometimes goes under this hashtag as well.
avlhealth In addition to health updates and opportunities, news about the area’s sizable health sector (Mission Hospitals, etc.) goes under this hashtag.
avlelect Local election news — from City Council to Congress — is the focus of this hashtag. Mostly dormant during non-election parts of the year, but much more active during campaign season.
avlenv Environmental news.
avlwx Weather events and forecasts.
wavl West Asheville goings-on.
Some additional hashtags our readers have pointed out:
avlbeer Beer news, in Beer City USA. Can’t believe I forgot to include this hashtag in the original roundup.
avlgb Green building news.
avlmusic More focused on music specifically than #avlent.
Of course, anyone can create a hashtag, and enterprising Ashevilleans do that on a regular basis, often for a given event or seasonal occurrence (belechere, moogfest and avlsnomg, for example). No doubt this list will need occasional updates, as someone realizes an unmet need, makes a hashtag, and gets people talking. While compiling this list, I got some great responses via Twitter from people with additions or suggestions, and even some talk about possible hashtags for traffic, non-profits, and uncomfortable truths/rants. If any of those become widely used, we’ll add them to the list.
This still isn’t a comprehensive list, and if you know of one we missed, let us know.
It’s also useful to spell out the (admittedly somewhat loose) criteria we use for this list.
1) It’s generally for ongoing hashtags, not event specific.
2) It’s generally for hashtags with regular updates and discussion going on.
3) It’s for hashtags where users have come to some consensus on which one to use for a topic. If, for example, there’s several hashtags about a single topic (as there are for the Asheville area’s photos), we haven’t included it.
4) It’s for hashtags that have acquired some measure of widespread use, even if there might be occasional dry spells. Some promising hashtags (#avlgive for nonprofits, for example) simply haven’t developed the regular amount of content yet to get included. Hopefully, some of these will grow over time, and I look forward to including them in future updates of this list.
— David Forbes, senior news reporter
#avlbeer is a pretty big omission.
#thanks #for #this. #very #helpful.
avlmusic – for those who like music but not other forms of entertainment, such as dance, theater, bluegrass
Aw, c’mon lance.
#wvl for Weaverville happenings…
#avlart gets used rather frequently.
Friends don’t let friends hang out with twits.
How about a hashtag to start certain tweets that are composed solely of mundane personal information? For example:
“#avlmundane I just ate breakfast. And my leg itches.”
Hey, if people want to broadcast the mundane details of their personal lives, I say go for it. Whatever works for you. But if you’d preface the message with #avlmundane, I could slide on by, and go on to a tweet with a bit more substance.
An ancillary benefit: On those rare days when I desire to know nothing more than where someone is on foursquare, or how their sandwich is (here I’m divided; I love a good sandwich), or the fact that they’re going to their jobs like everybody else, or #yougettheidea, I’d do a search for the handy hashtag #avlmundane and I’d be sitting in Twitter heaven.
#avlrad for all your River Arts District info
#avlluv for sweeping declarations of municipal affection
How about #michaelmullersaysvilethingsaboutyoubehindyourbackandgetstocallitreporting ?
…itreporting ?
#OMGletmetellyuaboutmylastfart!
Puh-leeeeze! It’s not dialog it’s twit diarreah.
#avlbeer #avlbeer #avlbeer
what about #avlgb which also shows up @ http://www.wncgreenbuilding.com/ and http://www.wncgbc.org/ under industry news??
#avlWTF – good for topless protests and the inevitable Nesbitt-fueled backlash.
#avl.soddom/gamorrah
#mxforums
nothing for the local arts?
Lame.
#avlphoto for images relevant to the area?