https://www.vox.com/culture/2017/8/23/16188868/hashtag-cultural-influence-twitter-demthrones-rap
Unlike many of the internet’s most foundational moments, the birth of the hashtag was caught on record, when developer Chris Messina, then a product designer at Google, tweeted out the idea to stick a pound sign (#, or “hash” in Brit-speak) in front of a word on August 23, 2007
A decade later, Twitter users alone generate 125 million hashtags a day, not counting similar hashtags on Instagram, Tumblr, Facebook, and other social media sites.
Hand in hand with the rise of social media itself, the hashtag has helped completely alter the way we use the internet. It’s not just that now we can giggle, “Hashtag blessed!” after every Instagram selfie we take. It’s not just that a viral hashtag can sometimes be literally life-changing — see the #IceBucketChallenge. It’s not even just that the distinction between online hashtags and real-life activism has become negligible — see #ArabSpring, #BlackLivesMatter, #OscarsSoWhite, #HeForShe, #MAGA, and so many more examples of hashtags converging with real political discussion and action. This last feature alone makes the hashtag one of the greatest developments of the modern internet.
Unlike many of the internet’s most foundational moments, the birth of the hashtag was caught on record, when developer Chris Messina, then a product designer at Google, tweeted out the idea to stick a pound sign (#, or “hash” in Brit-speak) in front of a word on August 23, 2007
A decade later, Twitter users alone generate 125 million hashtags a day, not counting similar hashtags on Instagram, Tumblr, Facebook, and other social media sites.
Hand in hand with the rise of social media itself, the hashtag has helped completely alter the way we use the internet. It’s not just that now we can giggle, “Hashtag blessed!” after every Instagram selfie we take. It’s not just that a viral hashtag can sometimes be literally life-changing — see the #IceBucketChallenge. It’s not even just that the distinction between online hashtags and real-life activism has become negligible — see #ArabSpring, #BlackLivesMatter, #OscarsSoWhite, #HeForShe, #MAGA, and so many more examples of hashtags converging with real political discussion and action. This last feature alone makes the hashtag one of the greatest developments of the modern internet.
