15 October 2014

The Hashtag Revolution

                I don't care if #MancrushMondays blue, #TransformationTuesdays grey and #WomancrushWednesdays too. #ThrowbackThursdays, I don't care 'bout you. It's #FlashbackFridays, I'm in love! If those days of the week seem familiar to you, then, congratulations! You are officially a member of the #HashtagRevolution.

                From what was originally meant to timeline an event on your social network, it has become the movement of Generation Z. Many flock to their smartphones to post updates on their lives, thoughts, and ideas. Even the mighty Apple Industry has caught wind of the hashtag, joining the infamous twitter bandwagon. That of which resulted to the #iPhoneOnly culture on Twitter, Instagram, and the like.

                They aren't just metadata tags to categorize posts on social networking sites, they are also social bucket lists that many enjoy following. #100HappyDays is the perfect example of it. To post a 100 photos of your life in a hundred days consecutively, who would have thought that anybody had the time to go through with it?

                The #HashtagRevolution is so powerful, that it has already brought together an actual revolution. In the 2009-2010 Iranian election,  millions of twitter users rallied up against the the debatable victory of Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad with the use of the hashtag. The likelihood of a candidate with a catchy hashtag winning an election is far more greater than one who isn't campaigned online.


                How far will this culture go? Should we be expecting #JejeJanuary -s or #OksLangOctober-s anytime soon? Or will it just die out like any other fad? With this fast paced, fast growing culture of octothorpes, it might just last forever.

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