While they used to be seen most often on Twitter, every major social network now uses hashtags to help them categorise posts and organise discussions.
Hashtags are a way of turning your posts into clickable links so that others with an interest in the same topic can find your post. By using the hashtag in front of a keyphrase, anyone searching for or browsing through that phrase will be able to find your post.
In many ways, hashtags have served to bring people together. They have allowed strangers to discuss anything from TV shows and celebrity gossip to major world events at any time of day, no matter where they are. At times of crisis, they have helped people grieve and unite together no matter where they are in the world. At other times, they have helped people rejoice and celebrate.
But have they stepped too far out of the online world into the real world? Some might argue that our lives have been made too public by social media use, and that there are times when a discussion on Twitter or other social network just isn’t appropriate or sensitive to the occasion. Perhaps the mourners at this funeral are thinking just that!
What do you think? Have you come across any hashtag use you feel is inappropriate?
