Hey guys -

Amy Stark – innovator of the #indiana Twitter trend movement of December 10, 2009 and the founder of the Indiana Social Media Summit – just talked to a few of us on the prospect of developing one unifying Twitter HashTag  for Indiana social media movements.

I’m a fan. The topic needs further discussion and, once again, Amy’s picked up the reigns.

It’s not that state hasn’t been using them. And when I say “the state,” I mean “Indianapolis.” Not that the boys in Indy are being exclusive so much as they outreached hadn’t reached the rest of the state when they started.

Right now, they use #si for social media / SmallerIndiana things, #Indy for all things Indianapolis, & #indiana for things referring to the state.

The trick to hashtags is to try and pick things that won’t get a lot of crosstalk.

1) Take #si for example. Not only is there a famous magazine that uses those initials – Sports Illustrated – but there’s a Romantic Language who’s a fan of those two letters. Take a look:

Kinda the same problem Chevy had when they introduced the Nova to Mexico in the 70′s and 80′s. Same thing: NO GO!

Once again, in quick defense of the Indy boys, Twitter wasn’t as popular in Spanish speaking countries when they started using it.

I’ve asked them about it, but the topic doesn’t get much traction.

2) #indy is cool, but that’s pretty Indianapolis-centric and Amy’s looking for something about Indiana Social Media. I’d just as soon leave this one alone and let it fulfill its primary purpose.

3) #indiana gets traffic but is pretty broad. Plus every time Indiana Jones, Indiana Pacers, or anything Indiana University comes out – or Indiana State, Southern Indiana, the traffic dilutes

4) Now they used #in_sm for the Indiana Social Media Summit and that’s cool. It’s targeted, understood, and gets traffic. Some might bark cross

Why use #in_sm when you could use #INsm . The latter is one less character, and when you only get 140 characters.

But then a search for #insm reveals why there’s an underscore.

Damn Germans

So after frittering around the rabbit hole, I’m all a fan for #in_sm. I’ve tested it and can’t think of anything better.

What do you guys think the Indiana Social Media Hashtag should be?