<strong>Hashtags become even more useful in a time of crisis or emergency as groups can rally around a common term to facilitate tracking</strong>, as demonstrated today with the <a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-prepare23oct23,0,6144290.story?coll=la-home-center">San Diego fires</a> (in fact, it was similar situations around Bay Area earthquakes that lead me to propose hashtags in the first place, as I’d seen people <a href="http://www.samharrelson.com/2007/03/02/the-first-twitterquake/">Twittering about earthquakes</a> and felt that we needed a better way to coordinate via Twitter).
