Now we all know exactly what a hashtag is and what it is used for. We’ve seen them on our social media feeds, on our Facebook walls, everywhere you look there’s a hashtag for something.
“But how did this craze start and who is responsible? It was Twitter, wasn’t it? I’ll put my money on it.”
Well, let’s not open your piggy bank just yet. In fact, it wasn’t Twitter that got the ball rolling. In fact, for the first few years they completely rejected the idea that it was a thing. But after the momentum couldn’t be stopped, Twitter finally got to work.
To know where it all began, we must first look at the person who started it all. How a former Google product designer turned a simple idea into reality.
Who is Chris Messina?
The man with a plan. Chris Messina was a silicon valley product designer who ran an internet consulting firm in 2007. He and his cohorts in San Francisco were using Twitter to communicate and brainstorm when they suddenly came up with an idea.
The idea was that Twitter needed a group editing framework, so Chris had a pound sign (later hashtag) will work effectively to reinforce a group’s focus. He identified the symbol by seeing it used before the names of internet cafe chat rooms before.
Chris tweeted, “What do you think about using # (pounds) for groups? as in #barcamp [msg]”Twitter did not even consider the offer, which supposedly sarcastically stated it was “too nerdy” and would never be caught.
This did not deter Chris. Just days later, he published a lengthy proposal to clarify his intentions for the use of the pound symbol, and a few suggestions for how Twitter might start using the idea.
There was no other way he could think of to solve the grouping problem. So what else could he do? It didn’t take long for him to mobilize his friends and suggest he try #.
How Did The Hashtag Become?
Chris wasn’t willing to give up just yet. In October 2007, the San Diego wildfires ravaged California. It just so happened that one of Chris’s friends was tweeting about it. Messina asked her to use the hashtag #sandiegofire when tweeting, and that’s exactly what she did.
It didn’t take long for others to start using the same hashtag to make their voices heard.
“The fact that other people imitated him in real time during these fires gave me the feeling that this could actually work,” Messina said. The hashtag was kept.
By 2009, Twitter had finally seen why. It may have taken two years, but Twitter has decided to add the option for users to search and use hashtags to organize groups. Still, Twitter didn’t officially recognize the hashtag until July 15, 2011.
Just a year later, in 2010, Instagram followed suit, allowing its users to start tagging photos with hashtags. It took a little longer for Mark Zuckerburg to go crazy, as Facebook didn’t allow the hashtag to officially infect the social media platform until 2013.
How Hashtag Use Changed Social Media?
There are those who adopt the hashtag to brag to their friends or promote products. Something like #yolo or #food to gain more likes and followers. Then there are the “hashtag activists” and those who use the symbol to promote change and encourage solidarity.
The hashtag has had a huge impact on many movements, many of them new, to draw attention to current events. hashtags like #Me too and #BlackLivesMatter Thanks to the hashtag, it gained an incredible momentum in recent years and gathered hundreds of thousands of followers.
Hashtags were also used throughout the 2016 US presidential election. #Make America Great Again, #I’m with himand #to feel They were all incredibly influential in the race for the nomination that saw Donald Trump ultimately be elected as the 45th President of the United States.
What Does Chris Messina Think About All This?
The use of the hashtag on social media is now more than 10 years old. You would think that someone who creates something so enriching for social media, used by almost the second person, would be in pretty good shape financially. This would have been the case if Chris had decided to patent the idea.
A patent would have given Chris ownership over all HTML-enabled sorting done using hashtags. Could easily license hashtag Go to Twitter and get incredibly rich. So why didn’t he?
According to Messina, “The hashtag is my gift to the internet community.” He didn’t want anyone to actually have the idea or to prevent others from using it. He had always wanted the hashtag to be open source for everyone and allow anyone to join the conversation.
“I wanted to give back to the internet community in a small way to repay everyone who came before me and put their time, effort and love into it.” Chris had nothing to do with making a profit.
A patent could have stifled the growth and use of the hashtag. For example, the hashtag “keeping the door open” has made far-reaching contributions to voices that want to be heard globally on any issue. Chris gave us all a say in the actions and events happening in real time anywhere in the world and chose not to take a penny. He wouldn’t want otherwise.
Chris Messina currently works as head of community and growth at Neonmob, an art business website.
