Rhetorical Functions of Hashtag Forms Across Social Media Applications

Abstract

This study analyzes the complex rhetorical practice of hashtag use across social media platforms and emphasizes the implications for UX designers and technical communicators working with social media. Specifically, we document and analyze the ways that users extend the function of hashtagging beyond findability toward meta-communication, effectively co-designing the hashtagging feature and helping social media designers develop new possibilities for hashtags as communicative tools. Qualitatively-collected data from five popular social media applications (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr, and Pinterest) are used to investigate how users implement hashtags in different contexts in order to achieve particular rhetorical purposes. Using a grounded approach, we identify 5 primary categories of "metacommunicative" hashtags and suggest how experience architects might incorporate them into future social media designs.