Who remembers the pound sign? No one anymore. Hashtags have taken the world by storm, inspiring trends and revolutionary ideas.
At first glance, hashtags are just a symbol to apply to your social media status to connect others to your post. Sometimes they’re something silly like #NationalNachosDay, but sometimes they are meant to create community or draw attention to a pressing subject. For example, November 7th, 2017 is committed to four-legged friends everywhere. Through the hashtag #CanineLymphomaAwarenessDay dog owners everywhere can share their testimonies and receive help and advice from fellow pet lovers.
Hashtags do more than just commemorate a single day of the year, they also inspire viral social and political movements.
Some of the most powerful tweets this past October included the hashtag #MeToo where Women could share their testimonies and encounters with sexual harassment and misconduct. The hashtag was originally popularized by the actress Alyssa Milano, who encouraged women to speak their truth publicly through the hashtag. The hashtag has accumulated hundreds of thousands of tweets across the globe and it is still growing. Women and men alike have been brought together to bring awareness to a tragically present subject and provide support for each other.
With the ever growing presence of social media, we seem to loose connection from one another. We feel less of a need to interact and socialize on the outside, because we have every social outlet available to us from the comfort of our homes with just the click of a button.
Hashtags have become a way for us to use that power for good, and create connections with people that we would otherwise have never met. And that is the power of the hashtag!
Throughout the month of November, I will be celebrating one each day through daily illustrations on my Frame the Message Ink social media platforms. Join me, and let’s delve into the power of the hashtag, together!
Facebook @framethemessage
Twitter @framethemessage
Instagram @framethemessageink