ON August 23, 2007, the user-created hashtag was born on Twitter. Over the past 10 years, it has evolved from a way to simply ‘tag’ or categorize Tweets, to one of the most recognizable and widely used symbols of the digital age. The hashtag has become part of our everyday speech, changed the nature of communication online, and become a powerful way to aggregate global conversations and movements.

Globally, an average of 125 million hashtags* are shared every day on Twitter, helping people on Twitter to see what’s happening in the world and explore what is being talked about right now. The most Tweeted hashtag in 2007 was used around 9,000 times. The most-used hashtag so far in 2017 was used over 300 million times. — SG