CNN: The Twitter Hashtag Turns 10 Years Old

The popular hashtag character (#) first used on Twitter has turned ten years old. According to a recent CNN article, Chris Messina sent his first tweet with a hashtag in 2007 to get feedback from followers on using the symbol to track trends and create group conversations. The idea came from Internet Relay Chat, a popular chat room software, where the pound sign was used to join different channels. It received mixed feedback to start but took off when Messina had his friend use a hashtag to track posts about a wildfire in San Diego.

Now when the hashtag is placed in front of a word on the platform, it will link to the larger conversation with all tweets including the same hashtag. This week, millions of users shared their experiences with #SolarEclipse2017 and #PhoenixRally for President Trump’s rally in Arizona. Other social platforms like Facebook and Instagram have also adopted the feature.

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