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The #Hashtag Is 10 Years Old Today

It happened on Twitter almost by accident.
Demonstrators hold up a hashtag sign to protest against President Trump's decision to pull out of the Paris Agreement on June 2, 2017.
NurPhoto via Getty Images
Demonstrators hold up a hashtag sign to protest against President Trump's decision to pull out of the Paris Agreement on June 2, 2017.

The #hashtag turns 10 on Wednesday! Not the actual symbol itself (which is probably as old as keyboards or even maybe the alphabet), but the use of the character to join a conversation on social media.

A decade ago on August 23, 2007, the #hashtag was born on Twitter. Chris Messina tweeted #barcamp, and it was the first time a hashtag was used to bring a group together.

Fast forward until now and an average of 125 million hashtags are shared on Twitter. Every. Single. Day.

Aussies alone have tweeted almost half a billion times with hashtags showing the love for homegrown boy band 5 Seconds of Summer. Aussie political junkies have used the #Auspol hashtag 3.5 million times

In terms of movements that started on Australian Twitter, one of the biggest has to be #putoutyourbats, a global movement in which cricket fans sharing pictures of cricket bats to honour the death of cricketer Phillip Hughes.

#illridewithyou was also huge, when Aussies banded together to say no to racially motivated violence in the aftermath of the Sydney Siege. It all started with one Tweet that quickly gained momentum.

And around the world?

The most popular television show hashtag of all time is #TheWalkingDead. The most usedmovie hashtag of all time is #StarWars. The most Tweeted gaming hashtag of all time is トレクル (TreCru/Treasure Cruise), with over 269 million uses of the hashtag.

To celebrate the birthday you can use #hashtag10 to activate a 24-hour custom emoji. Because just like salt and caramel, hashtags and emojis were made for each other.

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