Don't be a hashtag douchebag

Subject: Don't be a hashtag douchebag
From: Pooja Jain
Date: 25 Jul 2016

To,
The numbnuts who hashtag everything,

We are in an era of too many hashtags, but please #DontUseTooMuchOfItOnEveryPost.. Hashtags have been valuable on Twitter and Google since years. But, it becomes deadly when hashtag goes into the wrong hands... Each day hashtags are being pushed to the maximum by hashtag abusers.

We know internet doesn’t have any protocol, but some NETIQUETTE would be well appreciated. The very purpose of hashtag is connecting tag posts -- so they can be grouped together around a certain subject or event -- and searched.

They started as a way for people to find a particular topic. They began useful and utilitaritarian, but have evolved to this notion of being a cultural phenomenon and acting as if you are in the know. So that’s what people do, hashtag everything.

Even the father of the hashtag feels enough is enough. “The worst thing is what I might call ‘poor hashtag grammar,’” says Chris Messina, a Google engineer who first suggested hashtags as a Twitter tool in 2007.

The basic function of the hashtag is to widen the reach. But wait Facebookers, Instagram users that doesn't mean #you #hashtag #every #word #in #the #sentence, which doesn’t make any sense at all.. Too much of desperation is not a good look.

Facebook and Insta users are tagging #fun #funtimes #best times #cool #black #red #Friday #Greenbeans.. Okay we know that you are having fun but just one sensible tag would be enough.. TV shows, big life events, news fit the category.

It is glad to see that people are starting hashtags for the incidents happening around, giving way to rallies on social media itself, raising their voices for or against the issue and being findable through the tag.

But those who post a pic, remember not everything is a hashtag. It needs to make some sense. Even if you add 100 hashtags, the number of likes you get won't change. Okay, celebrities sometimes use too much of unnecessary hashtags for products, but they are paid for it. The best hashtags are used wisely, adding value or zeal to your post. However, entire caption need not be a hashtag. Only idiots bombard a post with too many tags.

And then come our different types of hashtag abusers

The Hashtag stuffer: He or She thinks this move may maximise reach by stuffing all the possible hashtags, just because of the false perception in their minds that hashtags will give more viewership or likes to their posts.
Mind you, you are just trying to distract people from your stupid post by overkilling the tags.

The String hashtagger: He just combines #Abunchofwordslikethis to confuse people

The too specific tagger: The tagger tries to give tiniest detail possible through a tag and string it up together. #TheplaceWhereWashingtonSat #ThePlaceWhereTheySignedforIndependance…. Is that much specification needed?

The space giver: Man, if you are taking the pain to hashtag, atleast know how to hashtag. # Hashtagging # With # spaces in between is like leaving the hashtags in the middle of nowhere. You are playing as a lawyer divorcing the hash from the tag..

The reverse tagger: I dont know why people do this. They# Add# Hash# after their words... What's is the point man..

The Hijacker: Please use the trending hashtag only when it is of your business. If you use trending hashtags like #SomeTragedy or #PrayforSOMETHING in a post irrelevant to those tags, then you are a perfect definition of #HashtagDoucheBag

The kuch bhi hashtagger: He/She uses the words like #traffic #Huzzah #Hurray #yippe #wow in a hashtag.. C'mon ppl, spare and sympathies with the hashtags. No one actually cares of what you hashtag.

Hashtags are super powerful. But goes the old saying by our very own favorite Spidy: 'with great power, comes great responsibilty.'

So, hashtag responsibly....

Stop the hashtag abuse!!!!!!!

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