Twitter has a long history of letting its users create standards and then finally adopting them as site features. First came the @ reply, whose history was recently examined. Next, the # hashtag morphed into Twitter's full "Discover" tab — complete with advertising opportunities. Now another common standard will automatically be turned into links when viewed on Twitter.com - $ stock symbols, commonly referred to as "cashtags." Twitter announced it in a tweet that indeed contains a stock link that is clickable on the web, much as it has been on various Twitter clients before today. Clicking on a ticker link takes you to a straight Twitter search for the symbol.
Twitter has been working to make its website better at showing related information in "expanded Tweets" that, in part, make it so a user doesn't need to leave Twitter.com. While the tweets with stock ticker symbols don't yet show expanded information, we imagine that it's an obvious opportunity to do so.
Now you can click on ticker symbols like
— Twitter (@twitter) July 31, 2012$GE on twitter.com to see search results about stocks and companies