Why do people use hashtags?

[ssd]

I don't really get them.
What are they for?

I find them annoying too. I have a friend whose hashtag list is constantly longer then her actual sentence.

It's a way of categorising photos. So if you put #whatever and then click on it, your photo will be there amongst others that have used the same hashtag.

It's also a way of adding extra comments or thoughts in a brief way.

I initially found them irritating but a few years later, I find they are so commonplace that I'm now indifferent to them.

I dislike the serial hashtaggers with millions of pointless ### after each post

BUT

Part of my job is now to investigate the reach on social media of some of the campaigns we run. Searching for stuff posted under a particular hashtag has made my life so much easier.

If you use them on Twitter, they act as keywords to make things more findable. Eg a conference will have a hashtag so anyone can find all the tweets from that conference. Any other context, they're just being a twat. Like those people who put .com at the end of every statement.

It's how you reach your target audience on social media platforms like Twitter and Instagram.

I'm very active on Twitter and I almost always add #ImpeachTrumpNOW to every post, because I almost always tweet about what a failure and a disgrace he is.

I use them when researching my holiday. So, I’ve just been on Insta searching hashtags for my next travel destination to see where I should visit.

My absolute pet hate is when people put stuff like hashtag love, hashtag family, hashtag livingmybestlife (I’m deliberately not using the hashtag symbol) it’s just pointless.
Makes me want to reply with hashtag puke!
Maybe I’m just grumpy though!

I get, for example, why you would hashtag ‘bluekitchen’ if you’d taken a photo of one you’d just had installed, and then that’s useful for other people to search if they’re thinking of getting one.

But I don’t get why you would make a hashtag for something no-one would ever search like ‘kidsdrivemecrazy’ or ‘lovetequilawithsharon’ or whatever. What’s the point of that?

#sarcasticcomment
I don't use them for real as I don't have public setting to make the posts easily searchable

I’ve got a FB friend who does a million per photo. It’s because she’s #pretentious and #tryhard. I can only do with them when they’re ironic.

Gotta love an ironic hashtag