#What'sUpWithAllTheHashtags

       What is a hashtag? The youth of today's community are experts on them because they can be found on every social media source and they connect phrases or slogans with posts. Hashtags are most commonly used on Twitter and Instagram as tags to accompany posts that sum up the main point of what you did or said with one or two words. They're catchy and spread quickly by other people using the same hashtag, or repeating it in verbal conversations to be relatable with others. Anyone sharing information on a relevant topic might use a hashtag to be a label with their message. Hashtags bring about a sense of community just like how buying a bottle of Coke might give you a sense of belonging. When you buy Coke, you feel like you fit in because everyone drinks it and their campaign is to share with friends. When you use a hashtag, you're automatically put into a community full of other people who used that same hashtag at some point. When you post something that says "#summer", you can click on the hashtag and it takes you to all the other posts on that app that use that same hashtag and it shows the community of people who captioned their picture or tweet with #summer. In this sense, hashtags are popular because people want to be relatable and have a catchy phrase that people will remember to go along with their post.
       Hashtags meet the worldly need for affiliation because people will use them so they can fit in with the crowd. The hashtag was a clever idea because it can be used with a brand to help promote campaigns while being short and memorable. They can also be used on private posts just as a way to connect with other people and prove that you are part of the same trend and group. Hashtags categorize content and can help focus in on certain interests. Part of Instagram's most recent update was to allow users to follow Instagram Stories by hashtags so that everything they watch will be about the specific hashtag. This is a technique to make people engage with other online users over common themes or interests.
       Hashtags are used to make someone appear trendy and creative, but their frequent usage also connects to something George Orwell mentioned in his response to the changing English language. Hashtags are a lazy way to create sentences that are short and choppy and don't require much thinking. They can help you avoid expressing your thoughts because they're ready-made and tend to be one or two words in order to have a clear message. George Orwell mentioned how people are referring back to old words or ready-made phrases because we're too lazy to think for ourselves. A hashtag is an easy path people choose to take so they can steer clear of thinking for themselves and putting together detailed sentences. A sequence of hashtags strung together can get a point across in bits and pieces without having transition words or details and it usually results in the reader being frustrated because they don't full understand. Hashtags are common because they're easy and simple for the person using it; and they help you feel a sense of belonging which is something that everyone desires.