Facebook Catches Up: Social Media Giant Announces They Will Finally Use Hashtags

Image Courtesy of lemondenumerique.com

By: Meghan Tibbits

The popular social network Facebook confirmed rumours that they plan to rise from the Dark Ages and once again become the hip and trendy website they once were. Their recipe for doing this includes one key ingredient: hashtags.

Like Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr and pretty much every other widely used social network, Facebook has decided to include clickable, searchable hashtags that allow users to converse on a global scale.

It seems as if this is the continuation of widespread internet homogeny. In other words, the blending of all facets of social media. Although there are some who believe hashtagging on Facebook will make social networking far more convenient, there are others who reason that the internet should remain a diverse space.

The latter is the opinion of Facebook user and University of Toronto student Eric Elson. When asked whether the social media giant’s plans to implement a hashtagging feature would enrich or detract from the overall social networking experience, Elson responded that he feels hashtags are becoming more of a cliché than something new and exciting that Facebook should be latching on to.

Other reports claim, however, that Facebook’s privacy policy will still apply to hashtagged status updates and photos. Posts set to friends-only will remain visible to friends-only, regardless of the number of hashtags thrown into the mix.

Whether this Facebook update will become an asset or an annoyance remains to be seen. At the very least, as is the case every time something like this happens, we can all look forward to passionate status updates and rants about the “new Facebook.”