The Rise of the #Hashtag

 

So since Twitters rise to fame in 2006 this little symbol ‘#’ has risen to fame. The hashtag allows twitter users to categorize their tweets, enabling other users worldwide to search for tweets on a certain topic. If a word is ‘hashtagged’ enough it will start to trend allowing a topic to spread and can enter the top 5 trending topics box on twitter. Now the reason I bring this up is because of recent I have been seeing this little symbol EVERYWHERE; whether it be on the new lucozade advert, Britain’s Got Talent, the adidas display at work or right now as I watch The Only Way Is Essex (TOWIE).

It seems like everyone wants to jump on this poor little symbol so that they can start or be involved with a trending topic. Users on other social networking websites like Facebook have even tried to hashtag statuses. The only thing is…it just doesn’t work! It just looks a bit silly when people use hashtags on websites that aren’t twitter because if I were to click on their hashtag it would lead me nowhere. You see when you hashtag a word or phrase on twitter other users can click on it and be directed to a page where all the latest tweets involving that hashtag will appear.

In terms of PR hashtags can be a useful tool as it can be a great way to drum up some ‘hype’ and support for whatever cause or product they want people to know about. The power lies in PR practitioners being able to spread their message in a fun and interactive way and most vitally in a way where their message can become a viral phenomenon. Like for example in March when the charity the Invisible Children were able to spread their message through their hashtag #Kony2012, which became a worldwide trending topic. 

Personally I think that PR practitioners should really consider using this powerful little symbol so long as they can come up with a catchy little phrase that is likely to get trending.