If you're a newbie to social media, hashtags can seem confusing and unnecessary. But they are now an integral part of the way we communicate online - and you should know how to use them. But don't worry, it's not that complicated at all.
The importance of hashtags
A hashtag is a word or phrase that follows a hash sign (#) and is used to identify certain posts on social networks. Hashtags are a type of metadata that allow anyone to tag content on sites like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. With the help of hashtags, users can more easily navigate through posts, organize them by topic, and participate in larger online conversations. For example, if you search for a hashtag on Twitter, you will see all the tweets tagged with it.
Hashtags are user-generated, not social media sites. While companies can create and sponsor their own hashtags, the tags themselves are not owned by an individual company - and anyone with access to the internet can create them. Public opinion and engagement are responsible for which tags become popular.
Hahags are also often launched and disseminated for special events. For example #JeSuisCharlie after the attack on the editorial team of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, #StayHome during the corona pandemic or #BlackLivesMatter, which gained popularity during the protests in the USA in 2020. Hashtags can also symbolize an attitude or a request.
A brief history of the hashtags
Hashtags as we know them have only been around for a few years. The concept of tagging posts to denote more than one category began in 2007, when designer Chris Messina suggested that Twitter users should use the pound sign to identify posts for groups and topics. Messina was actually the first person to use a hashtag on the social media platform, the effects of which can still be felt on the internet today..
This tweet marked the birth of the hashtag.
Shortly after Messina posted his groundbreaking tweet, people started using hashtags in their posts to spread information about the 2007 San Diego wildfires. But it would be a few more years before hashtags became really popular. Twitter began linking English hashtags in 2009 (turning them into clickable links that direct users to other similarly tagged tweets), and the website added support for Chinese and Japanese hashtags in 2011. Facebook has been supporting hashtags since 2013. These days, hashtags can be used almost anywhere.
What characters can you include in a #hashtag?
First of all, spaces are an absolute taboo in hashtags! Even if your hashtag has multiple words, write them all together. If you want to differentiate between words, use uppercase letters (#TippsUndTricks) instead. Capital letters won't change your search results, so searching for #TippsUndTricks will return the same results as searching for #tippsundtricks..
Numbers are supported in hashtags, so tweet to your heart's content about # 50ShadesOfGrey or # 13ReasonsWhy. However, punctuation marks are not supported, so commas, periods, exclamation marks, question marks, and apostrophes are not possible. Asterisks, & signs or other special characters also do not work.
There is no predetermined list of hashtags. Create a brand new hashtag by simply putting the hash in front of a series of words - and if it hasn't been used before, voilà! You invented a hashtag.
When not to use a hashtag
Avoid hashtag excess, i.e. too many hashtags in a single message. This makes the text difficult to read, and it is also considered bad etiquette to add a hashtag to a disjointed message just to get attention. Always make sure that the content of your post is relevant to the hashtag you are using. Otherwise, you could be reported as a spammer or receive unfriendly responses.