Oslo Startup Community to vote on a Hashtag

    Following the hype surrounding #STHLMtech, #CPHFTW, and #EstonianMafia, Oslo hopes to get its act together. After some prodding from the Sillicon Valley the networking lobbyist group for Nordic startups, Silicon Vikings, Startup Norway have taken it upon themselves to get people to vote on a hashtag for the Oslo startup community after deeming the catchall hashtag for Norway should be #Tech_NO.

    They have a few suggestions for Oslo, including:

    #TechOslo
    #Yolosl
    #OSLFTW
    #WhyOslo

    And they’re choosing the official hashtag in a democratic fashion based on usage. So if you have some relevant noise for the Oslo startup community, such as news, jobs, or whatever else is hashtagable, they recommend you start using the one you like.

    The winner will then be announced at an event called the Olso Startup Community Town Hall meeting that takes place April 9th at 18:00.

    Will this be successful?
    In our past article on Startup Community hashtags Tyler Crowley, the guy behind #STHLMtech and #CPHFTW stressed that these community-organizing hashtags need to come almost like a proclamation from god; an outsider needs to either bless the community with a hashtag, such as #EstonianMafia’s case, or else an outsider needs to gather the community, source suggestions, and take a vote quickly.

    It makes sense. By dragging out the process, people get attached to certain hashtags and some community members decide they don’t want to use the “official” one. Or by having an established (even though seen as friendly) organization like Startup Norway driving the charge, some might get suspicious about the motives behind certain hashtags. #WhyOslo is inspired by Oslo Innovation Week, for instance. Such was Crowley’s experience following the development of the #siliconbeach hashtag for Los Angeles.

    We’ve been following this trend closely at ArcticStartup, and since we’re based in Helsinki, we’ve been thinking this community needs one. But how should we get it set up in a way that sticks? Will this online voting work?