The Washington Post had a great and tremendously simple idea to encourage people to share their 9/11 memories on Twitter — it created the hashtag #wherewereyou.
The hashtag became a trending topic on Twitter, generating a flood of responses. “The Post’s solution was elegant and organic at the same time: It took a basic question – a question everyone, anyone can answer – and molded it into a simple but powerful piece of journalism,” explains Megan Garber on Nieman Lab’s blog.
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Sure, the hashtag eventually took on a new life of its own — users began using it to reference Glen Beck and just about everything else under the sun — but it was a terrific way for a media company to use existing social ecosystems to spark a conversation.