So… I don’t know how many people use Instagram in the class, but a major pet peeve of mine, in Instagram and in all of social media that utilizes hashtags, is the need some people feel to litter their post with irrelevant hashtags to either gain followers or empty ‘likes’ from strangers. These are the paragraphs after someone posts a picture loaded with the attention-desperate tags like #tags4likes and #pleasefollowme, as well as ones that are some of the most searched tags of real words, like #nails and #fashion (when nails or fashion have nothing to do with the picture). I am torn between unfollowing these people, and continuing to follow them to watch their desperation out of amazement and/or amusement. And look, I understand that everybody has a basic need to be accepted, included, and/or realized by the public or by a certain amount of people they feel satisfied to be recognized by. But when is enough enough? At what age or maturity do we say, ‘Ok, it’s enough with hashtagging #sky and #nails and #photooftheday to your selfie to gain followers, who are strangers, to feel a sense of happiness…’? If this is our gauge of fulfillment, getting approval from strangers, then where are we heading as a society? Is attention overall more important to people than privacy nowadays, or are we heading into (or already in) an era where the basic need for recognition has reached an all-time, extreme level where young adults need to be seen and heard as much as babies?
So you mean Jimmy Fallon and Justin Timberlake are overusing hash tags in this skit?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57dzaMaouXA
On a more serious note, I totally agree with your pet peeve. In my opinion, the use of hash tags has changed drastically since the last couple of years! Like you, I have noticed more and more people using hash tags for irrelevant reasons (I am guilty of this as well). For example, I would occasionally add #thatthoughaccountinglife on my Facebook status during finals week to share my stress in a comedic way. However, there are users that use hash tags simply to, like you said, obtain more followers and other irrelevant reasons. This is extremely frustrating when other users are searching hash tags and the results that show up are completely unrelated to what they had in mind. However, it really cannot be controlled. The freedom of using hash tags is what made Twitter so unique and to do away with it or even control it (at an authoritative level) is contradictive of its original purpose.
@Zhen Huang
Haha that’s a great skit… and yeah, I hear you that it virtually can’t be controlled (@ least not fully). That’s different though, that you put a hashtag here or there about stressing about finals. Nothing wrong with that in my opinion; I feel you. But yeah, the incessant use to try to just gain stranger followers is reflective of a mentality and maturity that would parallel a 15 year old, at best. So for me to see it with 21 year olds, 30 year olds, and people of those kinds of ages is just funny, silly, and weird to me.