hashtag activism

a.k.a. hashtag diplomacy, social activism

What is hashtag activism? It refers to the use of Twitter's hashtags for Internet activism. More specifically, hashtag activism is the act of fighting for or supporting a cause that people are advocating through social media like Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and other social networking websites.

This is the kind of activism that does not require any action from the person other than sharing or liking a post or tweeting or retweeting tweets on Twitter. The term gets its name from the liberal use of hashtags (#) that are often used to spread the word about a cause over Twitter.

Historical perspective: The first mention of this term was in 2011 by The Guardian which cited #OccupyWallStreet to describe the Occupy Wall Street protests. Other notable hashtag activism examples include: #Icebucketchallenge, #BringBackOurGirls, #NotOneMore, #PrayforParis, #BlackLivesMatter, #MeToo.

See also : hacktivist  #word  twitterverse  
NetLingo Classification: Online Jargon

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