Are social media hashtags dead?

[kennedy felton]

We are ‘hashtag over it’ with social media hashtags.

If you’re wondering why your hashtag game hasn’t been hitting the same… recent reports from various sources say they may not increase your engagement across multiple social media sites like they used to.

And Elon Musk is on board. Tuesday, the owner of X said, “Please stop using hashtags. The system doesn’t need them anymore and they look ugly.”

This post was in response to an “X” user asking Grok – an AI chatbot for X – if he should use hashtags on the platform. Similarly to Musk, but without holding back, Grok said in part, “If you really want to watch your engagement plummet like a stone into the abyss – go ahead – fill your posts with hashtags.”

Why the hashtag downfall? The effectiveness of hashtags has changed over time because of a few different factors. Algorithms on social media platforms are constantly changing, which can affect the way hashtags are ranked and displayed. In an article from August, the American Marketing Association points out platforms like Instagram can now sort out posts with excessive or irrelevant hashtags as spam. In turn, those videos are removed from profile feeds and searches.

Social media platforms are also integrating search engine optimization – or SEO – into their platforms. Instead of entering in hashtags to find related content, you can now use social media platforms as you would a regular search engine like Google.

Jason McDonald, Director of JM Internet Group, said, “People go to TikTok and they’re like, I want to fry an egg. I want to know how to make a souffle. So these sort of search generated queries are impacting, especially TikTok, also YouTube.”

So instead of spamming hashtags, try incorporating those words naturally into your captions. But if you’re still into hashtagging, find niche ones directly related to your content – generic tags like ‘love’ or ‘FYP’ won’t cut it anymore. By staying ahead of trends, you can find ways to experiment with what works for your content. Hashtags aren’t completely dead – just evolving. By adapting, you may just find yourself trending in the new social media era!