04/10/2022
The number sign or hash symbol, #, has long been used in information technology to highlight specific pieces of text. In 1970, the number sign was used to denote immediate address mode in the assembly language of the PDP-11[12] when placed next to a symbol or a number, and around 1973,' #' was introduced in the C programming language to indicate special keywords that the C preprocessor had to process first.[13] The pound sign was adopted for use within IRC (Internet Relay Chat) networks around 1988 to label groups and topics.[14] Channels or topics that are available across an entire IRC network are prefixed with a hash symbol # (as opposed to those local to a server, which use an ampersand '&').[15]
The use of the pound sign in IRC inspired[16] Chris Messina to propose a similar system on Twitter to tag topics of interest on the microblogging network.[17] He posted the first hashtag on Twitter:
How do you feel about using # (pound) for groups. As in [msg]?
— Chris Messina, ("factoryjoe"), August 23, 2007[3]
According to Messina, he suggested use of the hashtag to make it easy for lay users without specialized knowledge of search protocols to find specific relevant content. Therefore, the hashtag "was created organically by Twitter users as a way to categorize messages".[18]
The first published use of the term "hash tag" was in a blog post "Hash Tags = Twitter Groupings" by Stowe Boyd,[19] on August 26, 2007, according to lexicographer Ben Zimmer, chair of the American Dialect Society's New Words Committee.
A sign with a hashtag at a 2014 conference
Messina's suggestion to use the hashtag was not immediately adopted by Twitter, but the convention gained popular acceptance when hashtags were used in tweets relating to the 2007 San Diego forest fires in Southern California.[20][21] The hashtag gained international acceptance during the 2009–2010 Iranian election protests; Twitter users used both English- and Persian-language hashtags in communications during the events.[22]
Hashtags have since played critical roles in recent social movements such as , ,[23] and .[24][25]
Beginning July 2, 2009,[26] Twitter began to hyperlink all hashtags in tweets to Twitter search results for the hashtagged word (and for the standard spelling of commonly misspelled words). In 2010, Twitter introduced "Trending Topics" on the Twitter front page, displaying hashtags that are rapidly becoming popular, and the significance of trending hashtags has become so great that the company makes significant efforts to foil attempts to spam the trending list.[27] During the 2010 World Cup, Twitter explicitly encouraged the use of hashtags with the temporary deployment of "hashflags", which replaced hashtags of three-letter country codes with their respective national flags.[28]
Other platforms such as YouTube and Gawker Media followed in officially supporting hashtags,[29] and real-time search aggregators such as Google Real-Time Search began supporting hashtags.
Format
A hashtag must begin with a hash ( #) character followed by other characters, and is terminated by a space or end of message. Some platforms may require the # to be preceded with a space. Most or all platforms that support hashtags permit the inclusion of letters (without diacritics), numerals, and underscores.[2] Other characters may be supported on a platform-by-platform basis. Some characters, such as & are generally not supported as they may already serve other search functions.[30] Hashtags are not case sensitive (a search for " " will match " " as well), but the use of embedded capitals (i.e., CamelCase) increases legibility and improves accessibility.
Languages that do not use word dividers handle hashtags differently. In China, microblogs Sina Weibo and Tencent Weibo use a double-hashtag-delimited # format, since the lack of spacing between Chinese characters necessitates a closing tag. Twitter uses a different syntax for Chinese characters and orthographies with similar spacing conventions: the hashtag contains unspaced characters, separated from preceding and following text by spaces (e.g., '我 #爱 你' instead of '我 #爱你')[31] or by zero-width non-joiner characters before and after the hashtagged element, to retain a linguistically natural appearance (displaying as unspaced '我 #爱你', but with invisible non-joiners delimiting the hashtag).[32]
Etiquette and regulation
Some communities may limit, officially or unofficially, the number of hashtags permitted on a single post.[33]
Misuse of hashtags can lead to account suspensions. Twitter warns that adding hashtags to unrelated tweets, or repeated use of the same hashtag without adding to a conversation can filter an account from search results, or suspend the account.[34]
Individual platforms may deactivate certain hashtags either for being too generic to be useful, such as on Instagram, or due to their use to facilitate illegal activities.[35][36]
Alternate formats
In 2009, StockTwits began using ticker symbols preceded by the dollar sign (e.g., $XRX).[37][38] In July 2012, Twitter began supporting the tag convention and dubbed it the "cashtag".[39][40] The convention has extended to national currencies, and Cash App has implemented the cashtag to mark usernames.
Function
Search bar in the header of a social networking site, searching for most recent posts containing the hashtag
Hashtags are particularly useful in unmoderated forums that lack a formal ontological organization. Hashtags help users find content similar interest. Hashtags are neither registered nor controlled by any one user or group of users. They do not contain any set definitions, meaning that a single hashtag can be used for any number of purposes, and that the accepted meaning of a hashtag can change with time.
Hashtags intended for discussion of a particular event tend to use an obscure wording to avoid being caught up with generic conversations on similar subjects, such as a cake festival using rather than simply . However, this can also make it difficult for topics to become "trending topics" because people often use different spelling or words to refer to the same topic. For topics to trend, there must be a consensus, whether silent or stated, that the hashtag refers to that specific topic.
Hashtags may be used informally to express context around a given message, with no intent to categorize the message for later searching, sharing, or other reasons. Hashtags may thus serve as a reflexive meta-commentary.[41]
This can help express contextual cues or offer more depth to the information or message that appears with the hashtag. "My arms are getting darker by the minute. ". Another function of the hashtag can be used to express personal feelings and emotions. For example, with "It's Monday!! " in which the adjectives are directly indicating the emotions of the speaker.[42]
Verbal use of the word hashtag is sometimes used in informal conversations.[43] Use may be humorous, such as "I'm hashtag confused!"[42] By August 2012, use of a hand gesture, sometimes called the "finger hashtag", in which the index and middle finger both hands are extended and arranged perpendicularly to form the hash, was documented.[44][45]
Co-optation by other industries
Why do I need to use hashtags on Instagram?
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What data set is used in this tool?
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The most popular hashtags on Instagram
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