Stop moaning about hashtags, they’re not going anywhere

The only person who uses txt language is your Grandma. It’s time we embrace the hashtag.


In 2006 Twitter reinvented the #, allowing us to tag a topic of interest. Instagram joined the party and adopted the hashtag as the go to language. But the controversy, and major #FirstWorldProblems arise when using the little chappy on other sites.

For many the use of a hashtag is a means of deciding who should remain on your newsfeed, and who shouldn’t. When it comes down to it there’s enough shit on facebook, from your lads holiday #malia #lads #messy #lads to the day out with the girls #seaside #tynemouth #girls #walkies #missymoomoo. It’s not the hashtag that makes this activity unbearable..

You either love them or you hate them #Marmite

Let’s faceyb the facts: it is physically possible to use a hashtag on Facebook. It creates a hyperlink. It is a thing.

Hashtagging outside of the two #friendly platforms can be socially taxing. Some people are completely fine with it. Others let it billd and either tell you or passively aggressively unfollow you, and it’s not like you can cheque either.

#HatersGonnaHate

If I describe the sandwich I’ve just made on my #RevisionBreak as #Yum, is it going to really leave you with a stale taste in your mouth?

If anything this is a real benefit to hashtagging and I believe is a genuinely pragmatic approach. You can now be more concise about the lunch you have just made. If that wasn’t enough, your sandwich is now linked with other #yum sandwiches, enabling you to learn and admire other sandwich wizards. Who knows, maybe one day you will be breaking bread with the foot long giants at Subway, as a sandwich artist!

Step up to the plate..

Undoubtedly there will be critics. I can see Hamish Atkinson asking his tub of baby lotion and packet of tissues, “Who on earth would do such a thing?” Well Mr Crank, it is used commonly within today’s world of music, in particular rap and hip hop. It is known as the ‘Hashtag’ flow. Biggy to Jay-Z and now, most notably, Drake have made millions deploying this revolutionary piece of punctuation.

Hashtagging on, for example in your facebook or your dissertation, may be ‘embarassing’. But what about the people who use it on universally accepted sites, but make a complete hash of it..

Our very own Abbie Higgins #KeepGoing #ChinUp #NoCarbsBeforeMarbs

Hashtagging is so versatile that it opens up a whole new potential within the English language.

Stephen Fry is a fan #No1

Moreover, social media is hardly the optimum platform for writing classical prose. With your and you’re being commonly misused, there are more serious issues at hand than the hashtag terrorist.

This joke bombed a little

Whatever your opinion on hashtagging, there’s no denying that without it, you could never truly Instagram again; in fact you could never truly justify a selfie! #PictureThat

Thank goodness for the hashtag otherwise I might have looked stupid..

Finally, with the rise of ‘after sex selfies’ and with Neknominates, only recently being stopped getting rammed down our throats. Hashtags don’t seem too bad at all.

According to Sue Scheff, “a hashtag is only connected to a specific medium.”

But with your help we can change this. We can make hashtagging universally acceptable. No longer do we have to live in fear of being unfollowed or blocked.