Hashtags are a #word or #PhaseWithoutSpaces prefixed with a hash symnbol (also known as a number or pound sign), used to tag messages, images and videos, making them searchable. Someone who wants to locate tweets related to Encyclopedia Dramatica could search for the #EncyclopediaDramatica hashtag. Their use was popularized on Twitter, a microblogging service, and spread to Facebook and other social networks.

Trending is when a large number of people use the same hashtag in their messages, making it popular and for emerging trends to be identified. Justine Sacco is a public relations executive who made a racist tweet just before she boarded a plane for a 12 hour flight to Africa. News of her tweet spread like wildfire, within hours the #HasJustineLandedYet hashtag was trending worldwide and by the time the plane landed, Justine was unemployed.

Blunders

Some of the most infamous hashtags came from Twitter accounts managed by people who's minds are not in the gutter. However, the Internet is swarming with people who do, they are quick to spot alternative meanings to acronyms and unintended phrases because someone failed to capitalize letter. Given the nature of microblogs and social media, word of these blunders travels at a ruthlessly fast pace.

#nowthatchersdead

Bashtags

When it comes to social media, businesses often behave like lemmings, following the latest trend without really knowing why. As Facebook's popularity soared, companies spent money on various gimmicks to get people to follow and like their pages on the social network. Now history repeats itself with Twitter, attempts are made to get people use their hashtags, but unlike Facebook, hashtags can easily be hijacked by angry consumers, resulting in bashtags.

Deep within the bowels of McDonald's marketing department, an executive decided to encourage people to share their #McDStories, thinking that nobody would have anything bad to say about the fast food chain. A search for all tweets with this hashtag indicates quite the opposite, stories and images that McDonalds doesn't want consumers to see. No amount of public relations can undo the association #McDStories has with stereotypical obese American children gorging themselves at McDonald's, a clear indication food there may not be so healthy after all.

Many businesses invest large sums of money into maintaining a pristine image online, and someone tweeting about crappy customer support can cause a lot of damage. Often the person who's venting on Twitter is contacted because the company doesn't want to be seen as ignoring their customers. This creates an awkward situation for businesses that do something unpopular such as raising their prices, no longer can the angry voices of discontent be swept under the rug, meaning that consumers are able to have their voices heard for a change.

Hashtag Jamerson

Hashtag Jamerson is the name of a baby girl who's parents spend too much time on the internet. Either that or they hate their child so much that an abortion wasn't good enough. Until their child is old enough to go for a new high score, expect that her parents will continue profiting from the publicity as they continue neglecting their child, leaving her alone in a crib while they play Farmville.