Where Did Hashtags Come from and What are They?

The History and Uses of the Hashtag
Celebrating its Unofficial 10th Anniversary in 2017! 

#HappyBirthdayHashtag

You may not have realized it but this year the 'hashtag' unofficially turns ten! Though it may not seem like it, that's right... it's been a full decade since we've been commonly seeing the little hashy-helper all around social media.

Now to be clear, the 'hash symbol' has actually been around much longer than that , just not as we now know it today. (Yes indeed the # has past lives in the world of data and network computing.) Today we take a little look back at the history of the hashtag to give you a great foundation for the future.  

Get the Smarter Start Hashtagging Guide

Hashtag's Past Lives

In the early days of computing, the hash symbol was simply used to 'denote special information' and the use of the 'hashtag' (or pound symbol as many traditionally know it) for labeling 'groups' and 'topics' goes way back to the 1970s.  However, the use of hashtag in helping to make topics easier to find on social media didn't come into play until the late 2000's. (2007 to be exact.) #Happybirthayhashtag

The Initial Suggestion for & Appearance of the Hashtag on Social Media

Developer Chris Messina is credited with first suggesting the use of the 'hashtag' on Twitter [wikipedia].  Inspired by the use of the hash symbols in the earlier days of more 'insider' networked computing, he suggested that 'hashtagging' on Twitter could also 'make it easy for "lay" users to search for content and find specific relevant updates.'  

Though Twitter didn't officially adopt or promote the practice upon suggestion, in 2007 hashtag use took off after they were widely used by Twitter users in tweets relating to the 2007 San Diego forest fires.  This helped Twitter users to easily 'pull up' the latest update posts and all posts about the event.  [Wikipedia.]  

(TLDR: Hashtag makes its way onto social media. Hashtag gets famous!) 

What is a hashtag as we know it today?

A 'hashtag' is simply a # coupled with a word.  For example #SanDiego.

Though we now as of this writing in 2017 unofficially celebrate the tenth anniversary of the first widespread public use of the hashtag, today hashtags are still used very much the same way today as they were in 2007.  The only difference? Hashtag use has, of course grown exponentially.  Today it isn't only the general public using the hashtag to share and spread news and find keywords and topics. Business owners, content marketers and bloggers commonly use the practice as a standard part of 'getting found' on social media as well.

Today, as a business owner you can use hashtags on many social media and microblogging platforms including Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.  Arguably, the culture of hashtag use is perhaps most widespread on the first two - Twitter and Instagram.  To do so, simply post as usual and add the # symbol before any word in your post.  For example: #trending or #nightsky.

Happy Big 1-0 Hashtag! #Happybirthday