Ah, hashtags. Once simply a button on my telephone that I was often prompted to press while using automated telephone systems, the hashtag now claims a spot in the Oxford Dictionary (along with “selfie” and “totes”), with the accompanying definition:
“A word or phrase preceded by a hash sign (#), used on social media sites such as Twitter to identify messages on a specific topic”
It wasn’t until 2007 the idea of using hashtags on social media came to be, thanks to one Chris Messina, a social technology expert, who first posted the hashtag #barcamp in August 2007. The whole tweet appeared like this:
“how do you feel about using # (pound) for groups. As in #barcamp [msg]?”
Nowadays, it’s hard to go a day without hearing/reading/saying/using the word “hashtag” – even if you aren’t a social media marketing guru like moi! (I use term “guru” very lightly).
But, as we know all too well, just because something in prevalent in our day-to-day lives (such as beards, dadbods, and the colors blue, black, white & gold) doesn’t mean we really understand it very much at all.
