Communities and Social Media

Hashtag (#): A very powerful tool that can make a major change in the world.

Abstract.

The motive of this paper is to present to present to you the power of hashtag empowered people to have real change in the society because many serious issues were being taken very lightly in countries like India. Hashtags are mostly being used on social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and so on. Hashtag is a very powerful tool that internet users use to develop contents, to fight against injustice, to seek for help and to bring change in countries and societies. Through hashtags people connect to each other round the globe. Hashtag is a tool where it units the community together. Champaign as well as movements are being created on social media to bring small as well as major changes in the world. The paper discusses about the reason and ways that internet users such as news channels, politicians and celebrities make use of social media in order to create campaigns, movement and to voice out their opinion or to pass a message because social media is a platform where everyone is very active. In the generation of today social media is essential in each one’s life from young to elderly people. Community are built on social media, people see social media a better way to protest to seek for justice as social media brings all the internet users together that creates a community, people give their opinion freely about any issue.

Introduction

Power of hashtag empowered people to have real change in the society because many serious issues were taken lightly in countries like India. Online relations can change the mentality of people through social media, therefore people rules the social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Internet users end up by getting more and more information and  knowledge out of it by being active on these platforms. There is a network amongst internet users that creates a community and that  leads to a development of an issue by using hashtags. In India people uses hashtags to create awareness and to have a major change in the country as well as to force the government to take action whenever is needed. For example: #IndiaTogether and #IndiaAgainstPropaganda encouraged women to take a stand for themselves against sexual harassment, and violence, a second example is #MeToo Champaign helped the authority to take legal action towards the matter and the third example is #JusticeForSSR where a celebrity was found dead in his apartment and the police and doctors declared his cause of death was suicide which wasn’t the real case.

Hashtags rules because it is a tool where the internet users are able to find a post that interests them, Hashtags is a form of  words, multi-word phrases that  classifies content as well as it tracks topic on social media such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter etc. Internet users use hashtags to seek for posts, tweets that they are interested into and it is a two way tool, if you want your post to be seen by the audience, people uses Hashtags to make their post to have a voice. Hashtags are led to a symbol #, here are some examples #stopdowry, #stopviolence (Grauschopf, 2020). Hashtag is also form of tool that the internet users use to express themselves and to seek for help and get solution where in India when there is a major issue and not action is being taken, the internet users use hashtags to the content and the content  become so viral that it results in the generation of hashtag therefore it gathers the attention of a wider and stronger audience. Hashtags advocacy is everywhere, it is a way of how people protest online via social media and it is  connects us globally for any cases or topic that grabs our attention and encourages every internet users to contribute for a change.

“The Use of Twitter Hashtags in the Formation of Ad Hoc Publics” where it shows the ways  hashtags were beings used for their future steps in the period of election, sometimes it is based on specific themes and topics to convey their message or to plan for a campaign  (Bruns, 2021). Therefore here we can see how a politician put the hashtag tool into practice. “Battle of the Hashtags: Debate over farmers’ protest goes global for local” in this articleIt speaks about the protests of farmers in India and how did celebrities around the globe, politicians as well as the Bollywood industry’s people express themselves and supported the farmers on social media platforms. It has been mentioned on social media that international pop icon Rihanna, climate activist, Greta Thunberg as well as the adult star Mia Khalifa, they supported the farmers’ protest by tweeting using the hashtag #FarmersProtest.In India the hashtag became a rage overnight and afterward with the global support the Centre had to up its twitter game. MEA spokesperson Anurag Srivastava therefore a statement was tweeted where he spoke about the advantages of the farm laws, and all the talk that is discuss between government and farmers’ representatives, and so on. “Before rushing to comment on such matters, we would urge that the facts be ascertained, and a proper understanding of the issues at hand be undertaken. The temptation of sensationalist social media hashtags and comments, especially when resorted to by celebrities and others, is neither accurate nor responsible,” the statement signed off, and touched it up with the hashtags #IndiaTogether and #IndiaAgainstPropaganda. Afterward, there have been a lot of politicians, celebrities as well as many other social media users were using hashtags boldly and asking India to stay one and to not  be a target or victim of propaganda. While there was many other famous Bollywood influencers and celebrities who were constantly posting  #IndiaTogether and #IndiaAgainstPropaganda as they were all hoping for an amical resolution to take place (Basu, 2021).

Figure 1 Kumar, A., 2021. [Twitter] https://twitter.com/akshaykumar/status/1356884526815842304?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1356884526815842304%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.indiatoday.in%2Fnews-analysis%2Fstory%2Fbattle-of-the-hashtags-debate-over-farmers-protest-goes-global-for-local-1765657-2021-02-03

This is one of a tweet from a celebrity of India to show his support towards the Champaign.

Therefore, it clearly shows the way all celebrities, politicians and internet users supports the framers through the hashtag. Nowadays hashtag is a very crucial tool on social media as it connects everyone to everyone. Here in this debate it show the way the spokesperson from the MEA came up on the Twitter platform to tweet and explain how things is going and going to be, he also made use of hashtag #IndiaTogether and #IndiaAgainstPropaganda to get support and to make the audience aware of the situation. Following up all big celebrities, Politicians and internet users started to post the #IndiaTogether and #IndiaAgainstPropaganda to show their support and to awake and creates awareness. The hashtag tool basically unite people around the whole world, from a normal citizen to celebrities and famous persona.

 “#MeToo topped Instagram’s advocacy hashtags with 1.5 million usage in 2018” (IANS, 2018), in India, The #MeToo movement in the year 2018, 1.5 millions usage of the Instagram’s advocacy hashtags actually took the Bollywood and the media industry of India into an unbeatable trendy  photo-sharing. With hashtags, we can estimate how many amount of activity have been made as reported in the “Instagram Year In Review 2018”, the Facebook-owned  company actually said that #timesup have been used for about 597K times and so on, it has also been demonstrated that the platform might be one of the most powerful platform for internet users to express themselves, to speak up and speak out and that can lead to bring hope to meaningful causes (IANS, 2018). Here, hashtags have been used in many ways as well as forms to make the audience feel part of the #MeToo campaign, through this, many more people had the guts to speak up for themselves and eventually people got all together, they created a network and they worked together to show what wrong was actually happening. In this movement, internet users were able to support those who were a victim of it and it created a buzz that even on other platforms like YouTube and so on started to interview those victims and help them to seek justice. Therefore, the use of hashtags have an impact on how to make a footprint to  help people to connect to each another and to have a change especially in India, because India it is a country where for centuries women didn’t have to right to voice out and to take a stand for themselves but now with social media and communities gender equality is developing countries like India.

Figure 2 Jagan, S., 2018. #MeToo. [Instagram]https://www.instagram.com/p/BqnQ2YalsoI/

Here is one screenshot above is of the #MeToo Champaign where this lady on the picture was one of the victim and who seek fairness via the movement.

In India, an actor, Sushant Singh Rajput founded dead in his apartment. According to the Mumbai Police his dead cause was suicide. And a preliminary post-mortem made in Cooper Hospital confirmed that his death is asphyxia due to hanging (Indianexpress ,2021). The late actor’s death was a mystery as  he was a very brilliant actor as well as a very good human being. He has a good relationship with his friends, families, collogues and his girlfriend (Pandey, 2020). Around a week, a new channel “Republic World” which is a Republic media network channel started to make debates about the issue, the lead Arnab Goswami who own the republic channel started to invite ministers and people who were close to the late actor. In his debate they were able to know that the late actor didn’t committed suicide and it is a case of murder. The news channel, the late actor’s friends, families and fans started a Champaign #JusticeForSSR. For this Champaign the media, family and close ones of the late actor took social media platform to run their Champaign, all the fans of the late actor started to search justice for him via Instagram, Facebook as well as YouTube (RepublicTv, 2020). Through the Champaign the media took advantage to pass their message to the courts and all the ministers who took the death of the late actor very lightly. People such as the neighbors of the late actor started to denounce what happened the eve of his death. The #JusticeForSSR was buzzing around the world, through this many fan from all countries got together as one and started to fight for justice on the social media platform. Through this CBI and NCB got into action for this matter. Via this Champaign the Republic channel got on the number one position on media, and there are many other news channels who were not happy with this, they started to question how can #JusticeForSSR can make a new channel become so famous. The this article it has mentioned how the owner of republic took the advantage of this Champaign to belittle the minister and other parliaments, the new reporter used words such as “ national security, terrorism, identity politics, and confrontational party politics” in order to grab the attention of the public (Chakravaty, 2020). But here in this Champaign we can see that it has been a big lost for the Bollywood industries as many big celebrities names and frame were being attacked, many celebrities were being trolled, their lives became a circus because people were abusing them (Yadav,2020). #JusticeForSSR is an example that shows the way the social media and community had merge together to fight for justice for the late actor and here via this Champaign news channels were having the opportunity to build their names although there was many news channel was against the reporter, Arnab, he kept on fighting for justice where the case of death turned out to be a murder.

Figure 3 Gosawmii, A., 2020. [Instagram] https://www.instagram.com/p/CHCfwsSgd-7/

When there was delay for CBI to take the case hand, the report, Arnab, used to use #SSRJusticeDelayed as you can see in the above picture. Through this action, the late actors’ fans started to share a post of him and they add #SSRJusticeDelayed and the government immediately to action about this and sent a team of CIB to investigate on the matter.

Figure 4 Girl, F., 2021. [Instagram] https://www.instagram.com/p/CLs6jt9hU5j/

In the above picture, in the about section of caption, a fan of the late actor was asking for justice as in the start of the incident police officers and other people who were in charge of the case was trying to fool the audience and the late actor’s fans. Therefore this fan posted a picture of the late actor and in his caption he wrote #Candle4SSR #Oath4SSR #JusticeForSSR #SushantDay.

Figure 5 Gosawmii, A., 2020. [Instagram] https://www.instagram.com/p/CD0Akvwgza3/

Here is a picture of the late actor’s sister asking for the CBI to have a proper investigation on his brother’s death. She used #CBIforSSR where all the fans and people who care about the late actor starting posting so that the message could reach the CBI. And eventually after some weeks the CBI took the case in hand and so many evidence that the police were trying to hide was all being sorted out.

Conclusion

The hashtag is a very powerful tool in our today’s generation. Through hashtags citizens, celebrities and politicians have the opportunity to voice out, to make their point visible, to express themselves, to seek for justice, to have a change in the society as well as in the judiciary system. People are very much active on social media so via the platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram people creates a community and they get together to support each other and to pass their message. And social media is a platform where information are being passed on within seconds. Hashtags creates awareness and promotes a chain for people to take a stand for themselves as well as to step out and raise their voice whenever there are injustice that happens, especially in countries like India. Social media and community connects and develop the mind of people. In a way people using social media help the citizens and internet users to be more aware of their actions and to think wisely about the consequences.

References

Basu, O. (2021). Battle of the Hashtags: Debate over farmers’ protest goes global for local. https://www.indiatoday.in/news-analysis/story/battle-of-the-hashtags-debate-over-farmers-protest-goes-global-for-local-1765657-2021-02-03

Bruns, A. (2021). Enhanced sentiment learning using Twitter hashtags and smileys | Proceedings of the 23rd International Conference on Computational Linguistics: Posters. https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.5555/1944566.1944594

Chakravarty, A. (2020). How the #JusticeForSSR campaign helped Republic Bharat race to the Number 1 position https://www.newslaundry.com/2020/09/10/how-the-justiceforssr-campaign-helped-republic-bharat-race-to-the-number-1-position

Desk, E. (2021). Sushant Singh Rajput death case: Here’s the status. https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/bollywood/sushant-singh-rajput-death-case-here-the-status-so-far-7154837/

Grauschope, S. (2020). Hashtags: What They Mean and How to Use Them Correctly https://www.thebalanceeveryday.com/what-does-hashtag-mean-and-how-do-you-use-one-892814

Gosawmii, A., 2020. [Instagram] https://www.instagram.com/p/CHCfwsSgd-7/

Girl, F., 2021. [Instagram] https://www.instagram.com/p/CLs6jt9hU5j/

Gosawmii, A., 2020. [Instagram] https://www.instagram.com/p/CD0Akvwgza3/

IANS, I. (2018). #MeToo topped Instagram’s advocacy hashtags with 1.5 million usage in 2018. https://www.financialexpress.com/industry/technology/metoo-topped-instagrams-advocacy-hashtags-with-1-5-million-usage-in-2018/1412879/

Jagan, S., 2018. #MeToo. [Instagram]

https://www.instagram.com/p/BqnQ2YalsoI/

Kumar, A., 2021. [Twitter] https://twitter.com/akshaykumar/status/1356884526815842304?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1356884526815842304%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.indiatoday.in%2Fnews-analysis%2Fstory%2Fbattle-of-the-hashtags-debate-over-farmers-protest-goes-global-for-local-1765657-2021-02-03

Pandey, V. (2020). Sushant Singh Rajput: Mystery and voyeurism around Bollywood star’s death. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-53655118

World, R. (2020). Before you continue to YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFEgYyp93gg

 Yadav, J. (2020). Justice for SSR campaign is now a free-for-all abuse circus. BJP IT cell has been overtaken.  https://theprint.in/opinion/pov/justice-for-ssr-campaign-is-free-for-all-abuse-circus-bjp-it-cell/504456/

34 thoughts on “Hashtag (#): A very powerful tool that can make a major change in the world.

  1. Hi Tooshtee,
    This is Wen. Your paper is very much informative and has shown significant insight of the use of hashtags. Do you think that by using hashtags, social media users are able to generate pressure on negative social issue and unfairness in terms of the politics aspects? Do you think that social media can be a extremely useful tool in organizing social movement and protest activities? As Campbell (2018) indicated that “hashtags for such situations also provide a way for the public to express their sentiment — something many of us feel compelled to do in the case of a disaster”.
    Here’s an article that might help you gain more insight into this discussion, I would love to know your thoughts on this!
    https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/18/technology/social-media-protests.html
    Thank you for the interesting paper!

    Reference:
    Campbell, A. (2018, December 24). What is a Hashtag? And What Do You Do With Hashtags? Small Business Trend. https://smallbiztrends.com/2013/08/what-is-a-hashtag.html

  2. Hi Tooshtee,

    Your title really caught my attention there, short, simple but it had a big impact which led me to reading your entire paper! I loved that you attached some visual examples which made it even more fun to read.

    I’m originally from Indonesia, and I kid you not there’s so many corrupt leaders and injustice treatment towards the lower class and reading your paper made me smile as hashtags have actually helped a lot of wrongdoings get exposed and victims are being compensated properly. Unfortunately it is often ignored unless the injustice news goes viral, and it is usually done so to mitigate further negative public image instead of actually taking the blame and accepting that they are at fault.

    I hope this pandemic is treating you well 🙂
    Regards,
    Christabel Wijaya

  3. Hi Tooshtee!

    Well done on your paper I think the hashtag is a very underrated and appreciated tool that people have definitely forgotten about since the initial boom of the web 2.0 era. It has the potential to be extremely powerful surrounding important issues. Once again well done and keep up the good work.

    Regards, Jacob.

  4. Hello Tooshtee, I trust that you are fine and safe.

    I really appreciate your content of work about hashtags. Actually it is true that mostly everyone uses hashtag to identity something. For instance, in our conference paper itself when we had to upload our piece of work, we had to add hashtag accordingly. Hashtag has now become a tool in order to raise an issue, people when they post something they always put hashtags along with a speech which I find very helpful to know what the topic will be about just like the pictures you have added to your paper.
    But however, I would like to ask you something are all people aware about the purpose of hashtag ?
    Thank you very much for giving the opportunity to learn more about hashtag. See you & stay safe.

    Tiloshna

    1. Hi Tiloshna,
      How are you?
      Hey, thank you for giving a read to my paper.

      Well TIloshna, I would say that 95% of people are aware of the purpose of the hashtag as hashtags are being common nowadays.

      Regards,
      Tooshtee.G

  5. Hi Tooshtee,

    I don’t agree with you on Hashtag is a powerful tool!
    Based on a recent tweet in India, the prime minister Modi banded many tweets that was against him. There were many people who created campaigns because Modi government didn’t do what they promised to the citizen and especially during the 2nd vague of coronavirus that took place many people lost their lives and their family.
    On this note some activist came on the social media platform to give a voice to the nation but the Prime minister Modi deleted all post that had the key words on Hashtags.

    In this situation will you still consider # to be a powerful tool?

    Regards,
    Poochitra

    1. Hi Poochitra,
      I trust that you are well.
      Thank you for your comment.
      I respect your response. Here in this situation, i agree with you that # is not a powerful but i also believe that if some movements uses harsh words the system of social media will automatically delete the comment.

      I hope this answer suits you.
      Enjoy your week-end!
      Regards,
      Tooshtee.G

  6. Hi Tooshtee! I really enjoyed reading your paper and learning more about the effectiveness of hashtags. I had similar findings when doing research for my paper regarding Twitter’s huge impact in raising awareness for advocacy movements. https://networkconference.netstudies.org/2021/2021/04/26/from-slacktivism-to-activism-exploring-the-increase-of-youth-participation-in-online-social-movements-through-twitter/

    You could have used the term “hashtag activism” which was coined specifically to refer to the emerging use of hashtags in social movements. Hashtags are very powerful in today’s generation to raise awareness and to mobilise millions of people to join causes that are not particularly talked about in the mainstream media. The Black Lives Matter movement is also a prime example of a social movement that started on Twitter through the use of hashtags and which helped millions of people from the Black community to receive justice. However, I do wonder if hashtag activism is not turning out to be more harmful than helpful? Hashtags are incredibly effective at starting conversations about causes due to the feature provided by Twitter which allows anyone to create their own hashtag and to start a movement. But don’t you think that if anyone can create a hashtag for anything, it will be more difficult to find the causes that really matter through Twitter?

    Looking forward to hearing from you soon! Keep up the good work!

  7. Hi Tooshtee,
    your paper has clarified a lot more about my perceptions of using hashtags, I have put forward the best way of utilizing hashtags and how it can change the way we use it online. very informative paper.
    Regards,
    Jensee

    1. Hey Jensee,
      How are you?
      I hope you are having a good time.
      Thank you some much for passing through my paper.

      Enjoy your week-end.
      Regards,
      Tooshtee.G

  8. Hey Tooshtee!!

    I hope you are doing good.

    You wrote a good paper. You gave so much of information and you explained it well by supporting some example.
    But here, don’t you think that the use of hashtag can somehow be control by a second party? Is it safe for our coming generation to keep on supporting movements online through #?
    The reason I am asking it’s because I believe that today everyone post their really identity online therefore everyone is accessible to it and people who are against the movement may take personal information and take revenge from it.

    I hope i’ll get an answer from you.

    Best wishes,
    Emla

    1. Hey Emla,
      I’m good and you?
      Thank you so much for reading my paper.
      Of course it is control by a second party because there need to have a second party to control some terms or words that can affect the society as well as some cultures. I understand your point but here I want to add they the social media platform is not 100% safe but people who are harmful to the online environment can be traced by their IP address as well as via the information that they are allow online platform to consume.
      I agree with you that it might turn wrong for the one who is supporting certain type of movement but these bad accounts can be retraced and a case can be lodge against these people afterwards.

    2. Hey Emla,
      I’m good and you?
      Thank you so much for reading my paper.
      Of course it is control by a second party because there need to have a second party to control some terms or words that can affect the society as well as some cultures. I understand your point but here I want to add they the social media platform is not 100% safe but people who are harmful to the online environment can be traced by their IP address as well as via the information that they are allow online platform to consume.
      I agree with you that it might turn wrong for the one who is supporting certain type of movement but these bad accounts can be retraced and a case can be lodge against these people afterwards.

      I hope I’ve been able to answer your question.
      Regards,
      Tooshtee.G

  9. Hello Tooshtee,

    You did a great job. It is an informative paper. You explained a lot on how movement used hashtags in order to make a change.

    Now, I want to ask you… in this moment of coronavirus, there are many people who do not want to vaccine themselves because of the side effects. Can you explain to me, how will the use of hashtag divert the mind of the people who don’t want to get vaccinated?

    Regards
    Priya.

    1. Hello Priya,

      Thank you so much!
      Thank you for asking me this question.
      With the use of hashtags activist can form campaigns and create awareness of what may happen is people don’t get vaccinated.
      People with hashtags may click a picture of themselves and post it on social media and in their caption they can add # that’s related to the coronavirus vaccine. It will help to get themselves vaccinated.

      I hope I answered your question.

      Regards,
      Tooshtee.G

  10. Hello Tooshtee,
    How are you?

    Hey, had a good time reading your paper. There was a lot of information that I wasn’t aware of but when I read your paper I feel like I’m filled with knowledge..
    I want to ask you a question, do you think that hashtags will still be a powerful tool in the coming years or not?

    I hope to hear from you soon?

    Regards,
    Tevish

    1. Hey Tevish,
      I’m doing good! How are you?

      Thank you so much Tevish.

      Yeah, hashtags will still be a powerful tool in the coming years and I also believe that there will be more tools that will be introduced to us.
      In this generation via the help of hashtags many change had been done. When you click on the word that contains #, that leads you to so many relevant topic which is bind together.

      I hope that this is what you wanted to hear.

      Regards,
      Tooshtee

  11. Hey Tooshtee,
    you’ve chosen a very nice and a very interesting topic. Your paper is a very informative paper but majority of your phrases are based only on the good sides of hashtags.
    Well, don’t you think there might be more to say like a bit on the negative aspects of hashtags or how does the social media platforms bands some hashtag when someone uploads a post or reply to a comment on a very serious matters??

    You’ve showed so many example about the good side of hashtags. Here i want to ask you about the negative side of hashtags, for example how some organisations or some high stated people collaborates with Facebook and Instagram to save their reputations and tries to blind people from the actual truth.

    Overall you did good job but i want to know more on the negative sides.

    Regards
    Ashley Maunick

    1. Hi Ashley,
      Thanks for reading my paper.
      Well, there are the pros and cons of hashtags, I agree with you that actually uses # to save their reputations and all but, I also believe that nowadays internet users are much aware of what’s right and what’s wrong. Social media is a platform where people can rarely be fooled because whenever there’s a movement people do know what the movement is all about.

      I hope I’ve answered your question.

      Regards,
      Tooshtee G

  12. Hi Tooshtee,
    First of all, good job for this piece of work that you did here. I find this topic really interesting and the examples you have provided really support your arguments. I agree with you that hashtags are really important if a movement is to be created or for raising awareness about a specific subject, may it be for justice or just general knowledge. But like you said, I think that hashtags nowadays are only used for these purposes. That is, they are used only for spreading awareness about an issue or for marketing purposes specifically influencers tend to use a lot of hashtags to promote products. However, a report has showed that hashtags do not increase engagement as such nowadays, at least it depends.
    The most important aspect of it, is if you want to be noticed, you should be able to find the right hashtags for your content as well as your audience. They argue that it’s the content and not the hashtag that really makes a difference. Can I have your views on that?

    1. Hi Valentine,
      I trust that you are well.
      I agree with the argument but I will still say that hashtag is still the key to make the movement successful. Why so? It’s because whatever the content might be in order to make it viral, it needs to have a strong word for the voice to be heard. If there’s a serious matter and the world has to be aware of it, it will needs to be supported with #. Hashtags are direct for example if there’s something wrong happening, and there’s posts filled with wordings on social media about the content and you can see that internet users are sharing, sharing and sharing, here, in this situation with a simple hashtag you will already get an idea of what the issue is all about and you will want to read the whole paragraph.
      What I want to convey to you is that with the help of Hashtags anyone will get an idea of what’s going on.

      I hope this answer suits you.

      Regards,
      Tooshtee G

  13. Hi Tooshtee,
    I really enjoyed reading your paper and I agree that hashtags are a very powerful tool that allows for major changes in the world. I particularly liked how you compared hashtags to ‘voices’ and I think this is somewhat very relevant. The reliance on hashtags today is very significant in terms of steering and paving the way for social change as social media plays a very prevalent role today. Hashtags are like mini databases where similar posts are categorized into one small community where people have the liberty to express their opinions and voice their concerns on topics. I really liked your use of examples – especially the example of Sushant as this really resonated with me. I remember being extremely shocked at his demise and how people were not taking any action in trying to establish justice for him and what happened to him. After a lot of tweets and hashtags and outlash on this subject, people started to understand the severity of the case and started investigating on the matter.
    I’ve written a paper similar to yours, however, I’ve used the #metoo movement as my exemplar case study and I’d like to hear your feedback 🙂
    https://networkconference.netstudies.org/2021/2021/04/25/social-media-platforms-are-able-to-establish-online-sexual-harassment-communities-within-the-social-media-and-communities-stream-to-provide-significant-necessary-support-to-sexual-harassmen/

    1. Hey Saranya, you touched my heart girl, while reading your comment I got very emotional as I myself I feel so connected to the late actor Sushant. It’s nearly going to be a year since his cases is running. Let’s wait for justice for Sushant. #JusticeforSSR

      I will 100% give a read to you paper.

      Enjoy your evening.
      Regards,
      Tooshtee.G

  14. Hello Tooshtee,

    I have read your paper and I must say that you chose a very interesting subject since hashtags have been present for a long time now in our digital era. However, we are starting to see a decrease in hashtags on Instagram as it is not “trendy” anymore. People now use more captions and fewer hashtags. Do you think that in few years hashtags would be still relevant and a powerful tool? I would love to know your views on that!

    I also encourage you to come and read my paper on “Black Natural Hair Vloggers on YouTube Are Empowering Their Audiences’ by Encouraging Them to Embrace Their Black Identity.” The link is below:
    https://networkconference.netstudies.org/2021/2021/04/26/black-natural-hair-vloggers-on-youtube-are-empowering-their-audiences-by-encouraging-them-to-embrace-their-black-identity/#comment-1644

    Hope to hear from you soon! 🙂

    1. Hello Camille,
      How are you?
      Thank you so much for giving my paper a read.
      Hmm, i do believe that hashtags will still remain a powerful tool as nowadays youngsters like in secondary school students are now being introduced to this new world of social media. Let me explain to you in an easier manner. I think you and I comes from the same generation, so, when we were at school around ten years back we were new to Facebook and today I’m sure you are still using facebook as i, myself uses it where we still post our opinions about anything and for the next few years we still are going to use Facebook to create awareness or share anything that we want to, therefore same as hashtags, internet users will continue using it, yes there will be more and more tools such as caption, but hashtags connect people quicker.

      I hope I answered your question.
      Regards
      Tooshtee. G

  15. Hi Tooshtee,

    Indeed a very informative and interesting topic that’s now very important in the recent days! The article has been explained thoroughly in a very informative way. Would you mind me asking you to provide some examples of more campaigns that use hashtags.

    Thank you
    Kind Regards

    1. Hi Yotisha,
      I trust that you are well.
      Thank you so much for your review.
      Of course I send you some examples, for you to get more information here are some
      links,
      https://always.com/en-us/about-us/our-epic-battle-like-a-girl
      this campaign started very simple and it’s now a very powerful and empowering one. #Likeagirl

      https://mention.com/en/blog/social-media-hashtag-campaigns/
      again one meaningful chamgaign that used hashtag to make a big change. #ShareYourEars

      I hope. you’ll enjoy the readings.
      Regards,
      Tooshtee Gungapersand

  16. Hey there,
    I’m good and you?
    Thank you so much you gave my paper a read.
    That’s true that many internet users are not being able to post # on their Instagram accounts as it is being monitored by Instagram itself. Well, Mageshwari, if an internet user is posting a post which is a non-acceptable or is being attached with an non appropriate content, Instagram will not allow that Instagram user to carry on with these kinds of hashtags. Some hashtags are automatically band from Instagram itself again the reason is because the content might be or is inappropriate. I don’t think banning hashtags can affect the engagement of people seeking for justice as far as the content is safe, is meaningful and acceptable. Banning certain form of hashtag is protect the society and some conservative culture because social media platform is a friendly platform where people creates networks, community, events and campaigns. Hashtag is a solution because nowadays people are more active on social media, they are able to comment their views on any topic, they are able to express themselves and social media is a two communication where many issues are being solved and people are running so many campaign which are successful as it brought a change around the globe. Hashtags connects everyone.

    I hope I’ve clarify everything.
    I hope to hear from you soon
    Regards,
    Tooshtee Gungapersand

  17. Hi Sierra,
    Thank you so much.
    Yeah, this actually contributes to the performative activism because this is one of the best ways to monitor activity of social movements. The reason behind this is because, with the help of internet and technologies, people such as activists, feminist, politicians etc are being able to keep a track on what the nation wants or suffering from as via mobile phone, iPad and all they are able to know what does the public really needs as well as what change needs to be done. Based on the failure of the #blacklivesmatter, this won’t stop or limit the performative activism to keep on trying to put a change in the society, country or even in the world because in today’s generation people are very active on social media platforms and they are very much aware of what’s right and wrong and internet users’ have the power to voice out and to support whoever they want and whatever campaign they want to participate into.

    I hope i’ve answered your question.
    Hear from you soon!
    Regards,
    Tooshtee Gungapersand

  18. Hi Tooshtee,

    A really interesting paper on a topic that’s becoming increasingly important!

    I like the idea you put forward that hashtag use can be tracked, and therefore, can be used to monitor the activity of a social movement to an extent. However, I wonder whether this visibility contributes to performative activism? As we’ve seen recently with hashtags such as #blacklivesmatter, many users opted to post black squares on their feed in an effort to demonstrate solidarity with the affected community, but such an act ultimately hindered the movement and drowned out community voices. Additionally, many users who participated in ‘blackout Tuesday’ failed to follow up the sentiment with active involvement in the movement. If users’ inclusion of hashtags becomes invisible, will this limit performative activism?

    Look forward to hearing your thoughts!

    Kind regards,
    Sierra

    1. Hi Sierra,
      Thank you so much.
      Yeah, this actually contributes to the performative activism because this is one of the best ways to monitor activity of social movements. The reason behind this is because, with the help of internet and technologies, people such as activists, feminist, politicians etc are being able to keep a track on what the nation wants or suffering from as via mobile phone, iPad and all they are able to know what does the public really needs as well as what change needs to be done. Based on the failure of the #blacklivesmatter, this won’t stop or limit the performative activism to keep on trying to put a change in the society, country or even in the world because in today’s generation people are very active on social media platforms and they are very much aware of what’s right and wrong and internet users’ have the power to voice out and to support whoever they want and whatever campaign they want to participate into.

      I hope i’ve answered your question.
      Hear from you soon!
      Regards,
      Tooshtee Gungapersand

  19. Dear Tooshtee,

    I hope you are keeping up well during this lockdown. Your paper is very informative and it really shows how hashtags have become a tool to raise any issues. I really like when you gave hashtags a synonym to the word ‘voice’. It is true when one include a common hashtag on posts, this make others track the related posts easier. However, according to a recent article that I have read, Instagram is not providing stricter policies, which means that the options, contents and even hashtags are being monitored severely. There are hashtags that Instagram do not let being exposed, this means that some hashtags are being banned. To my current read, hashtags such as #adulting , #asia and few more. Do you think banning certain hashtags can affect engagement and the fear of not ‘hearing the unheard voice’ of issues and injustice? You gave various examples where hashtags saved lives and brought justice, but with the expeditious rate of the Internet, some political parties can bung Instagram hashtags with the help of hackers, which raise a problem against the government. Those holding power can find ways to block the flow and epidemy of hashtags. Is hashtag really a solution then? I leave the floor for your reply 🙂

    Good job girl!

    1. Hey there,
      I’m good and you?
      Thank you so much you gave my paper a read.
      That’s true that many internet users are not being able to post # on their Instagram accounts as it is being monitored by Instagram itself. Well, Mageshwari, if an internet user is posting a post which is a non-acceptable or is being attached with an non appropriate content, Instagram will not allow that Instagram user to carry on with these kinds of hashtags. Some hashtags are automatically band from Instagram itself again the reason is because the content might be or is inappropriate. I don’t think banning hashtags can affect the engagement of people seeking for justice as far as the content is safe, is meaningful and acceptable. Banning certain form of hashtag is protect the society and some conservative culture because social media platform is a friendly platform where people creates networks, community, events and campaigns. Hashtag is a solution because nowadays people are more active on social media, they are able to comment their views on any topic, they are able to express themselves and social media is a two communication where many issues are being solved and people are running so many campaign which are successful as it brought a change around the globe. Hashtags connects everyone.

      I hope I’ve clarify everything.
      I hope to hear from you soon
      Regards,
      Tooshtee Gungapersand

      1. Hello Tooshtee, I am doing good as well!

        Thank you for your clarifications. Yes, banning certain hashtags is also important so as to better control the online society (Insta/Facebook online community). We can see the power of hashtags today in the news itself, for instance to the current situation happening in Palestine. There are IGTV of women from these areas, talking about the issue because there is no media coverage being done. And I truly think Insta and Facebook is doing a marvelous job in sharing these videos, and people reposting and resharing it. On top, these people are encouraging the online community to get these videos (issues) to reach to a maximum views, in order to help them.

        Best,
        Mageswari

Leave a Reply to Tooshtee Gungapersand Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *