The History of the Hashtag

%#: The history of the hashtag The humble # has the power to incite revolution, influence public opinion, and, of course, make or break marketing campaigns. blur Group takes a look at the ups, downs and amusements of the social phenomenon so far. The World's First '#' 2007 Chris MessinaM 1. V Follow Ochrismessina how do you feel about using (pound) for groups. As in ebarcamp [msg]? + Recly 13 Patwost *Favourte ** More Chris Messina creates the first hashtag tweeting Tumblr adds tags, but these aren't visible or searchable in the Tumblr themes though users can add them to their posts in 2008 preparation Marco informs Tumblr users that they can add tags for both themes and groups 2009 Micah Baldwin Omicah I am starting Follow Fridays. Every Friday, suggest a person to follow, and everyone follow him/her. Today its @fancyjeffrey & @wiredone. #followfriday Mid-January saw the first FollowFriday, now an established hashtag Twitter begins hyperlinking all hashtags to reveal search results #MichaelJackso Michael Jackson's death sparks an outpouring of tweets, which cause Twitter's servers to crash #IranianElection A "landslide victory" for the incumbent President Ahmadinejad encouraged voter supiscion, charges of voter fraud and widespread protests and riots. 221,744 tweets sent per hour tumblr. Directory Tumblr rolls out the Tag Channel feature these channels aggregate tagged posts. Added a search function and tags can be tracked from the dashboard Tumblr directory is introduced: bloggers can pick three hashtags to decribe themselves and be ranked based on no. of followers. "Tumblarity" random feature means that blogs with good content have equal chances of being found. #mms Habitat abuses the hashtag #mms, as it puts trending hashtags into its tweets in order get as many views as possible. The negative PR backlash is huge - Back to Home O Save this search Results for #CyberMonday Tweets Tweets with links Tweets near you People VzWoffers verizon Wireless USA a Retweets en What's today's exclusive deal? You better unwrap it to find out! #CyberMonday http://pub.vitrue.com/P0m 2 hours ago Iby Verizon Wreless USA mayhemstudios Calvin Lee by morganb Hipstamatic #CyberMonday – 15% off PrintPaks through December 3rd with PromoCode: HIPSTAHOLIDAY 1 minute ago Lordand Taylor Lord and Taylor ta by TOCahopping TODAY ONLY, ONLINE ONLY- SCYBERMONDAY salel Save an extra 25% off almost everything online! http://bit.lyleULNZn 17 minutes ago Verizon buys the hashtag #cybermonday from Twitter 2010 Instagram launches and is hashtag ready #AwaazDo UNICEF India runs a three month campaign to get 8 million uneducated Indian children into schools. The tag is a success thanks to celebrity backing #SidiBouzid The self-immolation of Mohammed Bouazizi in the southern town of Sidi Bouzid triggers Tunisian revolt. International media is predominantly banned, but the hashtag informed the world of the uprising 2011 #Jan25 In Egypt protestors use the hashtag to spread the word of the demonstration in Tahrir Square. By the end of the day protestors would be arrested, news websites would be blocked and Twitter itself would be censored. tumblr. #LOL Tumblr adds the Explore Feature, making tags easier to navigate. #LOL is consistently the most popular tag on the site. KC OKennethCole Millions are in uproar in #Cairo. Rumor is they heard our new spring collection is now available online at http://bit.ly/KCairo -KC #Cairo Kenneth Cole Makes Light Of Cairo protests tweeting: "Millions are in uproar in #Cairo. Rumor has it heard our new spring collection is in now available online". Inevitable backlash forced Cole to apologize. + American Red Cross o assured the Red ie tweet but rest confiscated the keys. We've deleted the r d Cross is sober and we've #gettingslizzerd When the Red Cross Twitter account tweeted "Ryan found two more bottle packs of Dogfish Head's Midas Touch beer... when we drink we do it right #gettingslizzerd" it became apparent that a Red Cross worker had forgotten to sign out of the company Twitter #Destroyed Moby launches a microsite at destroyed.moby.com, which uses Instagram's API to pull photo's tagged with #destroyed, along with the location in the Where? field. The photo's were collated onto a account world map, and users could listen to the album Google launches the Google+ service as an invitation-only "field test" on June 28, 2011 #Beyoncé Beyoncé announces her pregnancy during the VMA's, Result: 8,868 tweets per second #kindofabigdeal RadioShack puts together a campaign with Verizon, with phones arranged on a table and when a tweet was sent with the hashtag one of the phones would vibrate. After a set number of I find it ironic that Detroit is known as the #motorcity and yet no one here knows how to drive tweets one phone would ring, and the tweeter responsible ChryslerAutos Chrysler Auto would win it. #motorcity Chrysler drops the f bomb as an employee forgets the difference between personal and company Twitter accounts #40dollars 1- y Follow The White House Owhitehouse President Obama's administration started a conversation on Twitter on What does #40dollars mean to you? pic.twitter.com/PG1jtofV the payroll tax cut in December. The huge reponse helped secure a two month extension to the cuts, and a 6 Vew translation resurgence in 2012 pushed it through to the year's end + Reply 17 Retweet * Favourite More #BeBoldCredit y Follow phonebanshee Ophonebanshee Research in Motion started a Twitter campaign on New Year's Eve 2011 to get people to tweet People, be gentle with the #RIM senior managers behind #bebold. They're going to be out of work and have no marketable skills. their New Years resolutions with the hashtag #BeBold. It didn't go according to plan.. +Reply t3 Retweet Favourite e More 2012 #googleplusupdate G+ introduces an autocomplete feature for #hashtags. M @McDonalds Fellow acDenalds McDonald's "When u make something w/pride, people can taste it," - McD potato supplier #McDStories http://t.co/HAPM5G9F January 18, 2012 5 09 pm via web Reply Retweet Favorite #McDStories McDonalds started the hashtag to show how hard its food suppliers worked, but it backfired for them when Twitter users decided to use it to share less positive stories around McDonalds stories. Domino's Piza UK O ODominos UK y Follow Domino's Tweet Treat has begun! Include #letsdolunch in your tweets to knock money of our Pep Passion. Full details on.fb.me/Aj8e5P 5 Mar 12 + Reply 13 Retweet * Favorite #letsdolunch For this campaign Domino's Pizza U.K. every time someone tweeted with the hashtag between 9am - 11am on the Pepperoni Passion Pizza price dropped by one pence. Following 85,000 tweets the final price was £7.74. #Storyboard Tumblr introduces the Storyboard to feature in depth stories from Tumblr's community, starting with Michael Stipe, the New York Times, Afghanistan, and the design mechanics of the Tumblr Dashboard. #OnEverest National Geographic runs a campaign on Instagram that saw a team climbing Mount Everest providing live updates as they made the ascent. NATIONAL GEOGRAPC natgeo National Geographie Ofcial instagram feed of National Geographic htp/www.nationalgeographic com y Follow Hend GLibyaliberty I'm having such a good hair day. No one even knows. #MuslimRage + Reply 13 Retwoet * Favourite ** More #MuslimRage After Newsweek ran a story on Islam, they asked people to tweet their throughts using the hashtag #MuslimRage. Twitter users subverted the hashtag to mock the article. Vine O Mercedes-Benz UK O V Follow GMercedesBenzUK #YOUDRIVE starts now on @itvi take the wheel and drive the story with #hide or #evade bit.ly/YOUDRIVE #xfactor + Reply 13 Retweet * Favourite e More #YOUDRIVE Mercedes-Benz created a three-part story airing on television in the UK during ad breaks for the X-Factor, with viewers able to vote on how the video would go by tweeting their option with the hastag. Susan Boyle ounanloyleo Did you miss the Standing Ovation abum sampler? Listen hereyoutu.be/0bbBOybY O View media 31 Oct #susanalbumparty Promoters for Susan Boyles latest album used this hashtag and Twitter users are still using it to this day, which just goes to highlight how important proofreading is. Susan Boyle onardoyeo Susan will be answering your questions at her abum listening party on Saturday. Send in your questions ISusanboyleAbumParty Susan HO 30 Oct Expand Susan Boyle osunanboyleo Susan is attending the prestigious Pride of Britain Awards this evening in London and by al accounts having a fabulous time. Expand #SpreadtheCheer Starbucks UK creates this hashtag for people to tweet happy holiday messages, but recent revelations around the coffee company' Richard Leeming 2 odickdotcom y Follow I like buying coffee that tastes nice from a shop that pays tax. So I avoid @starbucks #spreadthecheer poor labor policies and tax avoidance meant that people used the hashtag as a place to Reply t3 Retweet * Favourite More vent. 2013 hmv Chmvtweets 1m Just overheard our Marketing Director (he's staying, folks) ask "How do I shut down Twitter?" thmvXFactorFiring Expand hmv Chmvtweets 14m Sorry we''ve been quiet for so long. Under contract, we've been unable to say a word, or -more importantly - tell the truth thmvXFactorFiring Expand hmv ehmvtweets 15m There are over 60 of us being fired at once! Mass execution, of loyal employees who love the brand. hmvXFactorFiring Expand #hmvXFactorFiring Top tip for firing sixty employees: make sure that none of them are on the company's Twitter account as you're doing it, which is exactly what happened to HMV (@hmvtwveets). The tweets were deleted almost as soon as they were put up. nike We close out our community 17w celebration by going back to the beginning. A little over two years ago. A little over 6 million photos tagged #Nike. Someone had to be the first. Thank you @seb for starting it off. Thank you to our entire Instagram community for keeping it going. Together we push ahead. (10/л0) #Nike Nike celebrates over one million followers and six million tagged photos. The highly successful 'Milestone' campaign features ten photos from fans, culminating in a shout out to the first person, @seb, to use #Nike on Instagram Twitter announces its Ad API e Chris MessinaTM Ochrismessina y Follow flickr And then... @Flickr added #hashtags. pic.twitter.com/RmGdm320obp Reply 13 Retwoet * Favourite More Updates Purchased Fickr tion t anhagan itay chalng Detas andhe yew #FlickrFriday Flickr beats Facebook to the hashtag bandwagon as they manage to roll out their hashtag feature just after Facebook annouce their plans to introduce hashtags. The new feature was launched with the hashtag #FlickrFriday. Facebook introduces Hashtags © Copyright by blur Group PLC If want to add hype to your hashtags or tweet 'til you trend, start your marketing project with blur Group today, where the world's top firms will pitch to provide the perfect social media campaigns for your company. Find us at blurgroup.com %23