#rashtags

Last night on a Late Night rerun, Jimmy Fallon and Justin Timberlake performed a sketch in which they essentially spoke Twitter-speak, ending everything they say with the word "hashtag," crossing both index and middle fingers over each other to replicate a #, and following it up with a quip. Amusing, but might also dig into something we're still struggling to understand.

A hashtag, according to Wikipedia, "is a form of metadata tag" used to categorize different messages with a common tagging. While we most closely associate the hashtag with Twitter, it has its origins in IRC networks to perform a similar function. Open Web Advocate Chris Messina is responsible for bringing the hashtag to Twitter, and ever since the practice has flooded over to other social networking sites like Facebook, Google+, Tumblr, and even Linkedin.

Across the board, hashtags been used for anything from internet memes to product promotion. Given their ease of use, it's no surprise that hashtags spread like a rash throughout cyberspace. Even before the practice was technically supported on Facebook, users were using them, presumably because of their own Twitter experience. Just this morning a friend of mine issued a couple hashtags himself: "#8yearoldSaxMan" and "#thereisstillhopeforfuturegenerations." Though the latter is a bit lengthy, I can see it being a hashtag used by others as it's a common sentiment. The former, however, seems unique to the user's situation. It also sets a previous meme on its head, that of the "The Sexy Sax Man," the video in which a shirtless man with a long ponytail plays saxophone with provocative dancing.

But how many situations or descriptions would warrant the hashtag "#8yearoldSaxMan"? The hashtag has evolved from something beyond a mere categorization system to a rhetorical device that serves an unusual purpose. If my friend had simply said "like an 8 year old Sax Man" or "8 year old Sax Man," it would say the same thing. But it wouldn't have the same impact.

There's a certain finality that is imbued in a hashtagged phrase, and not simply because a hashtag usually comes at the end. The hashtag has become an alternative and extended punctuation, a way for the writer to get their last word in. If a Twitter post were an essay, the hashtag would be the pithy concluding paragraph. The fact that the phrase is usually hyperlinked and bereft of spaces gives it an aesthetic uniqueness that draws viewers attentions immediately to the point where it almost inadvertently serves a similar purpose to "tl;dr" ("too long; didn't read").

Are hashtags used to insert an idea into a culture and spread it? Or are they just a fun way to state an idea?" #youtellme #audi5000 #paymeforthis