Which Social Media Networks Use Hashtags?

Social media platforms are generally in competition with each other in terms of user numbers. However, they are united when it comes to how their users express sentiment or put up a single front: most of them use hashtags. Hashtags are words or keyphrases preceded by a pound (#) symbol and are used to gather similarly-themed posts under one umbrella. For example, at the height of the 2012 Olympics, the leading hashtag was #olympics or, more controversially, #NBCFail.

Social Networks And Websites That Support Hashtags

• Twitter
• Instagram
• Pinterest
• Google+
• YouTube
• Tumblr
• Orkut
• Fluidinfo
• Catch.com
• FriendFeed
• All websites under Gawker Media
• Diaspora software

Emotional Hashtags

Facebook doesn't technically support hashtags and will not gather information on the topic, although users have inserted these in their comments to project an emotion or sentiment, as with #thankgoditsfriday or #supermantotherescue. Online users have also employed hashtags for sentimental purposes and not for technical marketing or information generating endeavors. Under hashtag standards, the keyphrase should not be too long and ideally be just one word or a few letters. Read more on the do's and don'ts of hashtag characters here.