According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, Facebook is working on bringing hashtags (#) to the service. Like Twitter, it would be used to organize conversations by subject.
WSJ’s sources claim this is in development, but not close to being implemented. You would be able to click on a hashtag (eg #justintimberlake), and read all the posts about that subject. Instagram already works with hashtags, and is owned by Facebook. Facebook has been using Twitter’s @username concept for some time for tagging people in posts.
It’s easy to see why Facebook would test hashtags, as Mark Zuckerberg wants it to become a personalized newspaper, and hashtags are a great way to follow stories on Twitter. They are also popular with advertisers. However, Facebook is much more closed than Twitter, where users are generally public.
My stories in Facebook are generally limited to my pool of friends: hashtags work on Twitter as they allow you to track stories outside of the people you follow.
Twitter and Facebook are often seen as competitors, but from a user point of view they offer distinct services that are complementary. Integrating Twitter features also might not be popular with Facebook fans who already resent the use of @ mentions.
[source: Wall Street Journal]
