Hashtag is the name given on the internet to a keyword preceded by the # symbol (popularly known as “tic-tac-toe game”), used to categorize content published on social networks .

hashtag meaning

Coming from English , the term hashtag is used to categorize and organize subjects and posts on social networks. The term “hash” as a noun can mean mess and as a verb it can be used in the sense of “discussing about” or “talking about”. “ tag ” means “label” or “label”. The meaning of hashtag therefore is the organization of discussed subjects.

Hashtags became popular with the boom of social networks , which are websites and applications that connect people with common interests or even offer the possibility of virtual socializing.

Hashtags offer the opportunity to find a particular subject in an easier way, since everything that was said about that topic in which the same hashtag was used will appear easily for those who click on it.

Its popularization began with Twitter , which has as its main objective the discussion of ideas in short texts, with 140 characters. On Twitter, hashtags are very important to find “tweets” about a certain subject easily. They are also the ones that help to measure the most commented subjects of the day.

Over time, they also started to be used on sites like Facebook and the Instagram application , both products of the same company, founded by Mark Zuckerberg. While on Facebook their use is still low compared to other networks, on Instagram hashtags are practically a “mandatory” part of user posts.

By clicking on one of them, the user has access to all the photos and publications with the same content and can view everything that has been posted in relation to it.

It is also common to use hashtags on Pinterest in which users can create panels (or “boards”) separated by different subjects and store their images in these “folders”. In addition, other users and “followers” ​​can follow the posts made and “repost” (post again) on their own boards.

Most used hashtags

On Instagram , the most used and popularly known hashtags are:

# tbt (acronym for Throw Back Thursday ) where users post an old photo on Thursday.

#photooftheday means “photo of the day”

#followback which means “follow back” or “follow back”, which indicates that if the user is followed, he will be reciprocated and will gain a new follower.

#tagsforlikes that indicate that the photo is available to receive “likes”, that is, many “likes” from other users.

Nothing prevents, however, the user from creating their own hashtags for minor events or common situations. However, creating a hashtag with a very specific subject that will not be used by anyone else is not recommended, in addition to being “unusual” and meaningless for most users. Ideally, use a hashtag that has been used before.

Some official events and television programs have already recognized the power of hashtags as a way to engage opinions and issues, creating their own official hashtags and asking network users to use them. In this way, all comments on a particular topic are grouped together.

A good example is that used by the Brazilian version of the reality show Masterchef, in which the official hashtag of the second season finale reached more than 1.7 million tweets.