User:Pifriday/sandbox

A sign suggesting the use of a #TimeToAct hashtag at a 2014 conference

• I decided to add content to the page Hashtag because, as I was critiquing it, I saw that it was severely lacking in information
• I saw that it lacked pertinent information on Hashtags that was common knowledge
• Instead, the article chose to discuss less relevant facts on Hashtags
• Most notably, I saw that the Sports section was one sentence long. This was surprising given the fact that major sports leagues have used Hashtags in many different ways

Uses

Broadcast media

The use of hashtags has extended to television‍—‌a concept that began rising in prominence in the early 2010s. Broadcasters may display a hashtag as an on-screen bug, encouraging viewers to participate in a backchannel of discussion via social media prior to, during, or after the program. Television commercials have sometimes contained hashtags for similar purposes. Hashtag bugs appear on either corner of the screen, or they may appear at the end of an advertisement.

While personalities associated with broadcasts, such as hosts and correspondents, also promote their corporate or personal Twitter usernames in order to receive mentions and replies to posts, usage of related or "branded" hashtags alongside Twitter usernames (e.g., #edshow as well as @edshow) is increasingly encouraged as a microblogging style in order to "trend" the hashtag (and, hence, the discussion topic) in Twitter and other search engines. Broadcasters also make use of such a style in order to index select posts for live broadcast. Chloe Sladden, Twitter's director of media partnerships, identified two types of television-formatted usage of hashtags: hashtags which identify a series being broadcast (i.e. #SunnyFX) and instantaneous, "temporary" hashtags issued by television personalities to gauge topical responses from viewers during broadcasts. Some have speculated that hashtags might take the place of (or co-exist with) the Nielsen television ratings system.

An example of trending "temporary" hashtags garnering viewers during broadcasts is observed on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, a variety talk show on NBC. Every Wednesday, Fallon hosts a segment on his show called "Tonight Show Hashtags," which engages viewers by inviting them via Twitter to post humorous stories based on a specific hashtag topic, such as #WhydidIsaythat, #Worstfirstdate, to #Onetimeinclass, reflecting on funny experiences in daily life. By using hashtags, Fallon creates a sense of community and solidarity among his viewers and draws a wider range of viewers through an online platform while they watch a classic, non-interactive television program. Because of its popularity, the "Tonight Show Hashtags" are usually the 'most tweeted hashtag' on Twitter, which promotes the show. By engaging viewers with a lighthearted subject and simple hashtags, Fallon can gauge topical responses from viewers during broadcasts and also use the hashtags to brand his show.

The increased usage of hashtags as brand promotion devices has been compared to the promotion of branded "keywords" by AOL in the late 1990s and early 2000s, as such keywords were also promoted at the end of television commercials and series episodes.

The late-night television comedy game show @midnight with Chris Hardwick on Comedy Central features a daily game entitled "Hashtag Wars," in which three comedians compete against one another to come up with phrases based on a given hashtag theme.

Some hashtags have become famous worldwide. For instance the slogan "Je suis Charlie," which was first used on Twitter as the hashtag #jesuischarlie and #iamcharlie to indicate solidarity with Charlie Hebdo offices attacked in Paris, spread to the internet at large.

Purchasing

Since February 2013 Twitter and American Express have collaborated to enable users to pay for discounted goods online by tweeting a special hashtag. American Express members can sync their card with Twitter and pay for offers by tweeting; American Express tweets a response to the member that confirms the purchase.

Event promotion

Stencil graffiti promoting the hashtag #OccupyForRights

Organized real-world events have used hashtags and ad hoc lists for discussion and promotion among participants. Hashtags are used as beacons by event participants in order to find each other, both on Twitter and, in many cases, during actual physical events.

Companies and advocacy organizations have taken advantage of hashtag-based discussions for promotion of their products, services or campaigns.

Political protests and campaigns in the early 2010s, such as #OccupyWallStreet and #LibyaFeb17, have been organized around hashtags or have made extensive usage of hashtags for the promotion of discussion.

Consumer complaints

Hashtags are often used by consumers on social media platforms in order to complain about the customer service experience with large companies. The term "bashtag" has been created to describe situations in which a user refers to a corporate social media hashtag in order to criticise the company or to tell others about poor customer service. For example, in January 2012, McDonald's created the #McDStories hashtag so that customers could share positive experiences about the restaurant chain. But, the marketing effort was cancelled after two hours when McDonald's received numerous complaint tweets rather than the positive stories they were anticipating.

Sentiment analysis

The use of hashtags also reveals what feelings or sentiment an author attaches to a statement. This can range from the obvious, where a hashtag directly describes the state of mind, to the less obvious. For example, words in hashtags are the strongest predictor of whether or not a statement is sarcastic.—a difficult AI problem.

Sports

The YouTuber Spencer FC used the hashtag for the name and crest of his YouTube-based association football team, Hashtag United.

Since the 2012-13 season, the National Basketball Association (NBA) has allowed fans to vote players in as All-Star Game starters on Twitter and Facebook using #NBAVOTE. The tweets and Facebook posts must include #NBAVOTE and the player's first and last name or Twitter handle.

External links

• Wikipedia internal hashtag search engine – for hashtags used in edit summaries