Elon Musk has been making headlines on X (formerly Twitter) for saying that it’s better not to use hashtags. He says that they are unnecessary from a system perspective and look bad, and in the AI response he quoted, he suggested that using hashtags too much could have the opposite effect, as it would make you look desperate. It seems that he has wanted to abolish hashtags for some time, and the environment on X is becoming one where you can get buried if you try to stand out too much.
This article is a brief summary and overview of the article on CNET Japan (https://japan.cnet.com/article/35227409/). The following is a summary and commentary, with reference to the source.
【The debate over the need for hashtags has flared up again】
When I heard that Elon Musk had said on X (the old Twitter) that people should stop using hashtags, I have to admit that I thought, “Really?”. Hashtags are a standard tool for getting people to find your posts on social networking sites, aren’t they? On other social networking sites, such as Instagram, hashtags are the key to success. When I hear that they say things like “it looks bad” or “it’s already unnecessary from a system perspective” on X, it makes me feel like things that I had previously taken for granted are being shaken up.
【Hashtags on X are actually counterproductive?】
The responses from the generative AI “Grok” that Mr. Mask quoted were also thought-provoking, suggesting that the heavy use of hashtags is seen as a “desperate appeal”, and conversely, that those who want to stand out are punished by the algorithm. If you really try to get attention by abusing hashtags, it’s possible that you’ll actually end up being less visible. This might be a shock to people who regularly post things like “#check this out”. But if you think about it, it might be a surprisingly healthy direction to go in, if you think that you should compete on the basis of the content, rather than relying on hashtags.
【How does it compare to other SNS?】
On Instagram, hashtags are the gateway to searching and discovery, so I feel that the way X is moving is a completely different trend. On Instagram, if you search for “#gourmet” or “#travel”, you can connect with like-minded people, and that’s normal. But X is text-based, and the main focus is on immediacy and sharing topics as they happen. If “hashtags are no longer needed” in this context, then X may be trying to achieve a different kind of evolution. If X goes its own way, then in the end users will have no choice but to change their approach to match it.
【Personally, I don’t use hashtags with X…】
To be honest, I don’t use X that much in my everyday life. I only use it to send out a little information for business purposes, or to check the news from time to time, so I rarely use hashtags. So even after hearing about this, I still feel like “Oh, I guess I wouldn’t be bothered if I didn’t have it”. I think this policy is fine. Even if you don’t force yourself to use hashtags with X, you can still find things you’re interested in by searching for keywords, so it shouldn’t be that inconvenient.
【The culture of social networking services is constantly changing.】
If you look back, the way we use social networking services is changing all the time. Well, it wasn’t around when I was a kid, but in the past, the skill was shown in how much you could spread your message by adding hashtags, but now X is starting to say that’s old-fashioned. Maybe other social networking services will be influenced by this trend and shift to creating an environment where you can communicate naturally. After all, maybe users are getting tired of excessive appeal, and the platform side is also sensing that. In the future, X may show us a new way of connecting that doesn’t rely on hashtags, and for me, I’m taking a relaxed approach and thinking, “Well, I guess that’s okay too.”
