\t\t\t\tAn Engadget editor who tried to get as many Instagram followers as possible in one month said \u201ca journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step\u201d and that step was to utilize hashtags.
One of the most popular, if not the most popular, social media gurus, Gary Vaynerchuck would always say \u201cInstagram\u2019s about hashtags.\u201d
Well, now, Instagram has changed \u2013 as of December, 2017, hashtags have never been more useful.
You can follow hashtags, just like you follow people.
Before we dive into the implications of this change, lets first discuss the #.
What is a Hashtag?
Hashtag usage started with Twitter and spread like a virus into all forms of social media. They became a way to tag content and categorize thoughts. It was as simple as using a pound sign followed by a word.
At first, we all thought: \u201cIs this a joke?\u201d
Now almost a decade later, we hardly notice the tags that sit at the end of online posts, they are part of the furniture.
What is quite amazing is that they give audiences the ability to find a topic and view a large pool of opinions.
The tags can be anything, and by simply searching on a platform (Twitter Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, etc.) you can see all the users who have made a post and included the hashtag.
Events utilize hashtags to showcase the viewer\u2019s point of view, brands use hashtags to build a culture and recognition, individuals use hashtags to show their post belongs to a category (ex. #puppy, #vancouver).
How Have Hashtags Changed in 2018?
You can follow specific hashtags and have the most popular content appear in your feed.
A user's feed will be comprised of individual people they follow, and hashtags they decide to follow. Only the most popular content from those hashtags will appear.
Instagram is no stranger to copying the most popular features of other platforms. They have had a lot of success in the past.
According to the verge, this was in parallel to Spotify\u2019s ability to use both machine learning and humans to create the personalized \u2018Discover Weekly\u2019 playlist.
That may be far-fetched, but we know that it is a welcome change and one that will definitely grow over time.
Which hashtags are you going to follow?\t\t
