How the Hashtag Changed Social Media
The concept of the hashtag was created over nine years ago and is currently used to organize social media posts by idea and content. Chris Hessina, a former Google designer, was the first to propose the idea of using the pound sign (#) to group together different thoughts (Doctor). Every hashtag collects ideas, such as news, facts, entertainment, and more, to compile a list or feed on different social media websites. Hashtags range from a single word to a sentence that serves many different purposes. Companies, foundations, start-ups, and schools use hashtags to track different events that happen. Furthermore, the use of hashtags as a form of activism is a controversial topic. Today, hashtags are often …show more content…
For example, #blacklivesmatter and #icantbreate movements are both activist-influenced protests on social media. They are used to protest aspects of African American inequality. The hashtags were used after the Michael Brown and Eric Garner incidents. In each situation, there was police brutality against a black man. Therefore, many people believe what happened was an act of racism. The news was spread throughout the world to show race inequality is an issue in the United States. These hashtags are two of the most well known social media campaigns of 2015. People are made aware of the situation via the hashtag and can read more about the incidents when searching the Internet. Hashtags are used so people will remember events that happened and the emotions they were linked to …show more content…
Charities picked up on the success of hashtags to bring awareness of different fundraisers and events. Susan B. Komen uses #Race4theCure to promote the charity’s races and campaigns to end breast cancer. These races are done many times a year and all over America. The hashtag makes people aware that the foundation raises money to end breast cancer. They are not only looking for donations, but also runners to empower the world to end breast cancer. Therefore, putting the hashtag in a post about this race could get someone else to discover the trend, and ultimately get linked to the Komen foundation website where they could donate or sign up for a race. Most foundations use hashtags with the hope of making their campaign viral and well
The concept of the hashtag was created over nine years ago and is currently used to organize social media posts by idea and content. Chris Hessina, a former Google designer, was the first to propose the idea of using the pound sign (#) to group together different thoughts (Doctor). Every hashtag collects ideas, such as news, facts, entertainment, and more, to compile a list or feed on different social media websites. Hashtags range from a single word to a sentence that serves many different purposes. Companies, foundations, start-ups, and schools use hashtags to track different events that happen. Furthermore, the use of hashtags as a form of activism is a controversial topic. Today, hashtags are often …show more content…
For example, #blacklivesmatter and #icantbreate movements are both activist-influenced protests on social media. They are used to protest aspects of African American inequality. The hashtags were used after the Michael Brown and Eric Garner incidents. In each situation, there was police brutality against a black man. Therefore, many people believe what happened was an act of racism. The news was spread throughout the world to show race inequality is an issue in the United States. These hashtags are two of the most well known social media campaigns of 2015. People are made aware of the situation via the hashtag and can read more about the incidents when searching the Internet. Hashtags are used so people will remember events that happened and the emotions they were linked to …show more content…
Charities picked up on the success of hashtags to bring awareness of different fundraisers and events. Susan B. Komen uses #Race4theCure to promote the charity’s races and campaigns to end breast cancer. These races are done many times a year and all over America. The hashtag makes people aware that the foundation raises money to end breast cancer. They are not only looking for donations, but also runners to empower the world to end breast cancer. Therefore, putting the hashtag in a post about this race could get someone else to discover the trend, and ultimately get linked to the Komen foundation website where they could donate or sign up for a race. Most foundations use hashtags with the hope of making their campaign viral and well