Ever wondered how hashtags even became a thing?
As Twitter celebrates its 12th anniversary of the hashtag on Friday, the tech giant looks back at its beginning.
The first-ever hashtag used on Twitter was by Chris Messina from San Francisco, CA.
Messina wrote: “how do you feel about using # (pound) for groups. As in #barcamp [msg]?”
Twitter Canada’s Michael Palombo says the hashtag has become an important tool for communicating ideas online globally.
“Hashtags have become central to how we communicate on Twitter and in the culture, more broadly. In recent years, we’ve seen Canadian hashtags like #WeTheNorth and #BellLetsTalk transcend social media and become cornerstones for advertising, marketing and design,” explained Palombo.
So what qualifies as a great hashtag?
Palombo says hashtags that are likely to become viral are ones that “not only connect individuals but also ideas and perspectives overall.”
So let’s take a look the most trending hashtags used by Canadians this year.
Canada’s most used hashtag was #BellLetsTalk used for awareness about mental health issues.
Even when it's not #HashtagDay, we love our hashtags. Here are the ones that have had 🇨🇦 Tweeting this year:
— Twitter Canada (@TwitterCanada) August 23, 2019
1. #BellLetsTalk
2. #cdnpoli
3. #BTS pic.twitter.com/MLd74D5cQP
Top Canadian hashtags:
1. #BellLetsTalk
2. #cdnpoli
3. #BTS
4. #WeTheNorth
5. #jimin
The most popular movie-related hashtag was the fourth installment of Marvel’s Avengers, Avengers: Endgame .
Top movie-related hashtags:
1. #AvengersEndGame
2. CaptainMarvel
3. #SpidermanFarFromHome
4. TheLionKing
5. ToyStory4
For Canadian sports fans, the top hashtag should come as no surprise. The 2019 NBA Champions Toronto Raptors’ slogan “We The North” was the top sport-related hashtag tweeted across the nation.
Top sports-related hashtags:
1. #WeTheNorth
2. #LeafsForever
3. #Raptors
4. #NBAFinals
5. #BlueJays
And finally, in music, the wildly popular band BTS has bragging rights, with four other K-pop bands snapping up the other top spots.
Top music-related hashtags:
1. #BTS
2. #got7
3. #EXO
4. #NCT127
5. #Blackpink
Canadians have also been talking about all things dogs, mothers and nice cups of coffee.
The hashtags #dogs and #MothersDay were used 40% more often than #cats and #FathersDay.
Surprisingly, Canadians didn’t live up to their beer-drinking stereotype this year with #beer not even making it in the top 1,000 list.
The most mentioned food and drink hashtag was #coffee followed by #wine.
“Trending Hashtags definitely give a strong insight into what, when and where Canadians are talking about a certain topic,” said Palombo.
If there’s something interesting going on in the world then hashtags pulls people’s attention to the conversation.
Palombo added: “Hashtags bring people together and over the past 12 years, they have really helped define what Twitter is as a service.”
Copyright Postmedia Network Inc., 2019
