While other sites like Tumblr, Instagram and Google + incorporated the hashtag since their beginnings,Facebook is one of the last social media networking sites to adopt the symbol, and it is still unclear how far along the social media mogul's work on the hashtag is, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Facebook may allow users to click on hashtags to link them to trending topics and conversations.

Although Facebook and Twitter are seen as very different social media platforms,the first for social life and the second for real-time news and broadcasting services, the two companies compete for mobile users and advertising dollars.And in recent years, Facebook has copied some of Twitter's other features, such as "subscriber" lists and tagging ("@").

MORE: Facebook Designs New 'Mobile Inspired' News Feed

The hashtag would allow more brands and events to access Facebook users, as well as open a page of Graph Search results about a certain hashtag, Tech Crunch reported.

Since Facebook has more privacy options than Twitter, clicking a Facebook hashtag would only show the user public posts and those set to visible that mention the tag. Thus it will limit certain content set to private by users, unlike Twitter.

Official or not, many Facebook users have already adopted the hashtag symbol. It is just a matter of time until it becomes real-time.

Read the whole story at the Wall Street Journal.

Reach Editor-At-Large Brianna Sacks here