Before it’s invention in 2007, the # stood for a number sign, something to use in order to abbreviate and shorten numbers. But Chris Messina decided in 2007, being an avid Twitter user, that he was going to change the meaning of the # completely.
He explains why he invented the hashtag in this short Bloomberg Video above but it can be summed up in a few words. Twitter is the online social platform for streamlined and short and sweet messages since users are restricted to the 140 character limit. Messina felt that there was no real way for people to connect their conversations through common trends. Twitter originally had it that common key words could be searched but Messina thought there was a better way and so invented the #hashtag. He effectively created a way for people to create and follow trends that could be organized and easy to find. The hashtag is a great tool for brands to keep conversations going among their consumers about their products and their brands. It allows people to follow the latest news on a what is happening somewhere in the world. It also provides a way for people have conversations about social trends and social issues. Little did he know that his creation would eventually take on a whole new direction.
Jimmy Fallon and Justin Timberlake illustrate it best in their skit #hashtags. The tool for users to create trends to build a community, in addition to building a brand, has morphed into a weird way of speaking and has become over used in all the wrong ways. It brings about the concern that hashtags may not be useful anymore because they will be so watered down with all these random made up trends. This article by NYMag goes on to describe The 7 Types of Hashtag Abusers and I know all of us have been guilty of one of these at some point.
At the end of the day, I wonder how hashtags are going to continue to morph and whether they will die out a slow death, or if they will come back and provide a whole new set of opportunities. I will leave you with this thought, what if hashtags were used for your own personal brand… I read an article on the Elite Daily where the writer goes on about creating a personal hashtag campaign and attaching your name as a hashtag to resumes and job applications. Say whattt!? He goes on to explain how you can bring all of your social media platforms together, and pool all your ideas into one place. Who knows, this could be the next trend with the hashtag since it seems to be changing by the day but using it for job applications? I can’t decide if this idea is genius or just plain stupid. What are your thoughts?
#thanksforreading #peaceout