Hashtagging. It started on Twitter; now this trend has grown to other social media sites. The symbol has also made its way onto billboards, television, and even some articles of clothing. A common theme on social networking sites is that these trends tend to rise and then fall, so, is there such a thing as “over-hashtagging”?

The definition of a hashtag is: (on social media sites such as Twitter) a word or phrase preceded by a hash or pound sign (#) and used to identify messages on a specific topic.

Some feel as though hashtags are only a trend.

“They are pointless and will die off sooner or later,” senior Anna Stackhouse said. “It’s like a trend and some trends never last.”

Yet, hashtags bring people to together on certain topics. If used as intended, hashtags can bring people together on popular topics or trends such as the March Madness, or general information such as breast cancer awareness. Hashtags allow for people to become more informed about certain issues.

Hashtags also allow for a way of keeping up with the news without actually watching TV, as many of the popular and even local news stations have twitter accounts that post their stories and maybe even some articles.

A lot of Twitter and Instagram users post whatever is on their mind, and add hashtags wherever they see fit. An example would be “OMG I just dyed my hair #pretty #jk #superblonde #barbie”. Some of the old and gone hashtags that trended for a while were #swag and #yolo.

Sophomore Corey Janda doesn’t think too highly of hashtags, “I think if you are a twitter user then using hashtags is fun, but if you’re on Facebook or Instagram I think it’s just really annoying.”

So it seems like not many people like the idea of hashtags on other social media sites other than Twitter. Nevertheless, they are being used everywhere and will continue to be used until they die off.