#ifyoulovethemsomuchwhydontyoumarrythem

Oh hashtagging, I do believe you have ruined social media for me.  I understand how it started and I understand what the purpose was, and admittedly, it was a good idea. But somehow it has been hijacked by silly silly people and used for purposes not in line to the original purpose of hashtagging.

I have a couple friends who do not know what a hashtag is, so in order for this post to make more sense, I am gonna school you guys for just a minute.

*ahem*

A hashtag is a word or phrase, prefixed with a pound sign. The pound sign then makes the word or phrase searchable, or categorizes it for lack of a better description, on certain sites that utilize the feature. For example, on Twitter if I were to tweet "OMG, did you see that train wreck of a performance on the VMAs??  #mileycyrus"; anyone could search for #mileycyrus and see any post with that particular hashtag.

What has been seen cannot be unseen.....

p.s.  For the record, I don't tweet or twerk.

p.p.s I had to Google twerking because I didn't know what it was. Again, what has been seen........

There are only a handful of sites that actually support the hashtag feature. So I found it especially obnoxious when my friends on Facebook were following every post with a hashtag. Facebook only very recently jumped on the hashtag bandwaggon and even at that has managed to implement it VERY poorly and without much success.   

I guess that my problem with hashtags is not so much that I don't appreciate their purpose, but that it seems that everyone has forgotten what they are really for and have morphed them into something totally different, and pointless. 

As I mentioned previously, the point of a hashtag is to categorize a post and make it searchable. SEARCHABLE is the key. Of course you can create your own catchy hashtag and use it for every picture of your baby that you post on Facebook..... Alyssa, I am looking at you.... but what is the point if your hashtag is not something that anyone else would think of in order to search for your photos or posts?  I am going to tap out after 3 unsuccessful attempts to find little Peyton's adorable photos if #baby, #peyton, #babypeyton did not work. How I am supposed to know that you would use #babypisthecutestthingontheplanetandijustlooooooovehimsooooomuchsqueeeeeeeee! ??

Another of my pet peeves with hashtags on Facebook is that some of my friends, who shall remain nameless, but we alllllll know who you are, follow a one or two word status update with the longest list of hashtags I have ever seen.  Such as: "Monday #nobueno #ineedmorecoffee #someonehasacaseofthemondays #4moredaystilfriday #fridayfridaygottagetdownonfriday"

My favorite hashtag of all is #love;  Because really, love is a very very VERY relative thing. Some people love cute puppies. Other people love kale chips. And some people even love anal fisting. You are a truly brave soul to search #love. You might get cute fluffy bunnies, you might get angry fetish porn. Good luck to you!

I remember when it meant nothing more to me than the symbol for number and told me when a note was sharp on sheet music!

Ahhhh yes, I miss those days.

Of course I still love my hashtagging friends on Facebook, but just know that every time I see your "Lunch time! #hungryhungryhippo #sandwhichandkalechips #iwonderwhatthepoorstarvingchildreninsomaliaareeatingforlunch" post, I am shaking my head at you.