It's about time Facebook jumped on the hashtag wagon. For too long, people have been updating statuses and sending their Instagrams and tweets to their newsfeeds with hashtags — only to find that those quirky, sometimes ironic #nonsensicalattempts to get followers were reduced to mere text on the screen. Womp, womp. Well, now those hashtag junkies can rejoice, for their precious tags will link to the actual trending topic on Facebook.
In an announcement made last night, Facebook explained that their attempt to bring larger conversations like the Oscars or "Game of Thrones" to the forefront of the social media platform begins with hashtagging. New features will slowly be introduced as time goes on, but in the meantime, our feeds are going to look and function a lot more like those on rival platform, Twitter. Facebook tags will link to the trending topic, users can search for specific tags, and new material will be generated through tags as well. The reasoning behind the new feature makes perfect sense: If millions of people are talking about the same thing, why not bring them together under one shiny #umbrella?
The real question is, how effective will it be? People go to Twitter for hashtags, and Facebook for updates on life, relationship statuses, and to stalk their long lost high school peers. We'll see what happens, but as of right now this seems more like another advertising gimmick than anything. #Whatever, #nicetryFacebook. (Facebook)