What started as a trend by Twitter, the original promoters of the #hashtag spread quickly to other forms of social media like Pinterest and Instagram. In the next few weeks, despite earlier reservations, social networking giant Facebook is set to implement hashtagging across its platform.
Hashtags are generally used before keywords in a Tweet or any other forms of posting in order to collate all such Tweets or posts containing the same hashtag. Denoted by the symbol # , hashtags help in fast indexing and searching of topics which are discussed frequently.
Accepting that hashtags were a simpler way of seeing what is being discussed, Facebook Product Manager Greg Lindley in a post said, “To date, there has not been a simple way to see the larger view of what’s happening or what people are talking about. To bring these conversations more to the forefront, we will be rolling out a series of features that surface some of the interesting discussions people are having about public events, people, and topics. As a first step, we are beginning to roll out hashtags on Facebook.”
What this essentially means is that Facebook users can now search for specific hashtags, click on hashtags originating on other services like Instagram and compose posts with hashtags. Facebook will also provide privacy controls and the user can limit who sees their posts which include hashtags.
Lindley also said that in the near future, other features like Trends would also be introduced on Facebook.
Amulya Nagaraj, a professional photographer said, “If it makes searching for content I post easier, I’d definitely appreciate it. If I have posted something six months ago, and want to search it, which I do quite often, it would be of great help.”