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Let’s talk about
hashtags.
But before we do
that, watch the video above of Jimmy Fallon and Justin Timberlake to get a
taste of how contagious and overused the hashtag has become.
Before I get into
the nitty-gritty of what hashtags are and what their influence on us is, let’s
define “hashtag.” According to the Oxford English Dictionary (the darn term has
been so overused that it was actually added), a “hashtag” is:
On social media sites such as Twitter, a word
or phrase preceded by a hash or pound sign (#) and used to identify messages on
a specific topic.
Okay, that’s fine. If someone’s
commenting on Twitter about how great last night’s Grammy Awards show was, then
they can leave #GrammyAwards2013 at the bottom of their post, and suddenly,
anyone who also has comments on the show can comment in this connected link.
Eventually, a conversation pertaining exclusively to this topic is open to the
rest of the web-wide community to use as well.
In a lot of ways, this actually sounds
like a pretty great deal. People get to connect and chat over topics they like,
helping them to establish electronic relationships with people with similar interests.
This uses the appeal of affiliation; for one to fit in with everyone else, or
to feel part of something. So, in theory, this system could have worked really
well.
But that’s not what happened. Social media
users have started using hashtags less like a means of connecting with one another
and more like an emoticon (i.e. J
or <3). What was once #GrammyAwards2013 has now become – and this is the
worst of all, so bad that it makes myself and many others gag with disgust –#YOLOSwag2013. This hashtag has no meaning whatsoever; in fact, for many, it’s
hashtags like these that are starting to drive people bonkers.
The way things are going, even though it
may be heavily exaggerated, the video shown earlier may become a reasonable
possibility if people keep using it all willy-nilly like. #Let’sFixHashtag’sReputation
I agree with you wholeheartedly. It always manages to both annoy, as well as sadden me when a completely good and useful item has its purpose or look twisted so much so, that its original form has become all but forgotten. This happens way too much in the media, and this bad habit has begun spreading all too quickly into normal life as well. Sometimes it seems people will do or say things that they themselves don't understand simply because they have seen so many others do it, and feel that it is the new thing to do to in order to be part of the crowd. But that just demeans the person who does this, as well as the action, dialogue, or object that they use for this purpose. In my opinion at least, that is what happened to the hashtag.
ReplyDeleteI agree that this "hash-tag" thing has gotten out of control; however, I don't think that it is necessarily a bad thing. Yes, it's stupid and crazy, but teens have been doing stupid things since forever. Seeing hash-tag being presented in the way Jimmy Fallon and Justin Timberlake did does show how weird things could be, but I have never heard someone actually talk like this. I don't want to sound like a parent (because this is a a parent stereo typical saying), but, this is just a phase. The next big thing will come along and hash-tags will be left in the dust.
ReplyDeleteThis video was made to show how crazy hash-tagging could be, but I don't think that it'll ever be this severe of a problem. If this does however develop into a life-long thing, then I'll raise my white flag and agree with you, but for now, it's not that big of a deal.