It’s only been about three weeks since we launched What the Hashtag?! and we’re happy with the reception it’s gotten so far. We’re currently nearing our 900th hashtag in the catalog. To sweeten the pot and get more people interested, we’ve decided to hold a giveaway when we reach our 1000th hashtag.

The Rules

To enter, just follow these simple guidelines:

1. You must be registered at What the Hashtag?!
2. You must enrich the site (and community) by making at least 1 meaningful edit. By meaningful we mean you have to add something worthwhile to the current listing (adding information to a hashtag or creating a new listing).
3. Getting others to retweet about the contest will get you bonus points.

The Prizes

Here’s what we’ve got on tap for prizes:

• Five (5) $10 USD iTunes gift cards
• Five (5) 48×48 featured user slots on Microblink for two months

Choosing a Winner

To choose a winner, we’ll pool all the users currently registered that have at least one qualifying edit. We’ll choose a random user from the pool to win an iTunes gift card. Lather, rinse, and repeat for 4 more cards and the 5 featured users slots. To remove any suspicion of nonsense or shenanigans, I’ll record it all on webcam and embed the video for you all to see.

So, get out there and register to enter yourself for the contest. We’re not entirely sure when the thousandth hashtag will come in, but we estimate that it will be sometime in the next week.

MacHeist is a website dedicated to the promoting and reselling of Mac OS X software. In the past they have ran several successful promotions and themed events such as the Mac Giving Tree. Their latest promotion is the MacHeist TweetBlast. Through Twitter participants can score a free copy of DEVONthink, normally valued at $50 US.

To get your copy of DEVONthink you will need to follow the MacHeist Twitter account and tweet out a canned message about the promotion with a link back to the promotion page. Shortly afterwards you will receive a DM from MacHeist with a link to download DEVONthink and two bonus applications, Hyperspaces and Overflow.

This is Twitter marketing at its best. Through this promotion MacHeist is growing their following numbers and having participants actively link back to their website. On the page they have also added some Twitter integration which displays the avatars from those who have already tweeted out and at the time of this post over 4500 have already participated in this promotion.

This promotion is a win, win, win. Participants are getting free software, MacHeist is successfully promoting their name and increasing their following numbers and DEVONthink is getting their software out there which will hopefully translate to future licensing fees and users. What is best about this however is Twitter is providing a free channel to make it all happen. Through Twitter participation is growing organically due to the uber-retweet with link back to the promotion site and most likely will continue to do so until the promotion ends.

For more details or to participate check out the MacHeist Website or follow the messages on Twitter.

The Shorty Awards honor the world’s top Twitterers. You can nominate as many people for as many categories as you’d like until midnight December 31st.

The Shorty Awards, much like the Top 50 Tweeple to Follow contest and the Twitties, is a contest where users nominate their favorite people for awards. The five contestants with the most votes go on to the final round where they are voted on by the Twitter world. Think of it as the Emmy Awards or the Oscars, but for Twitter.

To nominate someone for an award, send a tweet like “@shortyawards I nominate @user for a Shorty Award in #humor because…” through your client. You can also go to their homepage and supply your credentials and do it there, or click the link to send your tweet through the web interface.

The initial round of voting ends December 31st. The top 5 contestants for each category will be voted on between January 5th and January 14th. The winners will be announced in late January at a reception in New York, where they deliver an acceptance speech either in person or by video. It’s only fitting that they’ll have to do it in 140 characters or less.

If you like us and would like to nominate us for an award, you can do so here.

Yesterday Copyblogger announced its second Twitter Writing Contest. The first was announced in May with a prize of bragging rights and a 4gb Ipod Nano… and the response was overwhelming. The contest received more than 300 entries, required five judges and even caught the attention of the LA Times.

The second contest is stepping up the game with prizes already locked in for first, second and third place winners. And these prizes are epic! How epic? Let’s just say third place, at the lowest equivalent value, is worth roughly $59 per syllable.

Now that your interest has been picqued, here is what you have to do to enter: Tweet your best haiku and then cut and paste your haiku to the Copyblogger contest post before Midnight EST, Sunday, November 16, 2008.

Due to the short and simple format, Haikus are nothing new to microblogging and most people have written at least one back in elementary school, so there is no reason for not entering. Also, considering there is a Macbook Air up for grabs, why not (did we forget to mention that earlier)?

However, if you are looking for inspiration for your 5/7/5, you may want to check out @letteretcher, whose tweets are always formed as Haikus. For additional examples, there is always Twitter Search.

A complete list of rules are included in the official Copyblogger contest post. If you are interested in entering, I highly suggest reading the rules there instead of taking our word for it.

In a contest being run by TATA and NEN that claims to be “the first ever people’s choice awards for identifying, showcasing and supporting the highest-potential young companies in India,” a startup microblogging service has joined the fray.

Kwippy, a unique microblogging platform created by Dipankar Sarkar, is one of the startup nominees. Take a look at their nomination page and consider giving them a vote. You’ll need an account on the website to vote online, but you can also text HOT<space>106 to 56767.

What is TATA NEN Hottest Startups?

With an exploding economy and more and more high-impact startups flourishing in India, the TATA NEN Hottest Startup Awards aim to bring out the best of the best through community driven voting and a star judging panel. The winners will receive significant business support from the likes of IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Bangalore, Microsoft and NEN, with possible admission to incubations and access to funds of over 50 lakhs ($100,000 USD) for each winner.

The startups are judged with the following characteristics in mind:

• Innovative in operations, product or service, or marketing
• Solving hard problems
• Gaining traction – either with increasing number of customers or in research and development
• Have the potential to reshape their industry
• Exhibit a great combination of passion & opportunity

Does Kwippy Have a Chance?

Though still in invite-only mode, Kwippy seems to be gaining traction in India and across the globe. They’ve already garnered themselves a community manager and have had Ping.fm integration since July. You could argue they haven’t really solved a hard problem, but they have added value to conversations with their unique take on microblogging. I’d also venture to say they’ve had a hand in helping to shape the microblogging industry as a whole with the features and functions they’ve designed.

Judging by the way things are shaping up so far I’m not sure they’re going to make the final shortlist, but its still great to see them nominated and making it into the public eye.

You can stop by and give them a vote or text HOT<space>106 to 56767 to show your support.

In the contest being run by Sarah Evans (@prsarahevans) to locate the top 50 Twitter users to follow, the winners have finally been announced. According to her blog, more than 900 voters cast their votes for over 2,500 nominated users. Don’t feel bad if you didn’t make the list because as Sarah mentions, this is an “unofficial” contest.

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