The Art and Business of Online Writing: How to Beat the Game of Capturing and Keeping Attention

by Nicolas Cole

Most people don’t know how hashtags actually work. A hashtag is nothing more than a folder. It’s a way of organizing content that is “tagged” the same thing. When you place a hashtag on a social media post, all you’re doing is saying, “This piece of content should be organized in this folder.” The biggest mistake people make when using hashtags is treating them as words and phrases within their actual message. For example, they might post on Facebook: “I just wrote this piece. I hope you enjoy it! #myfirstposteveromg #2020 The hashtag #2020 works, because that’s a hashtag a lot of other people use to organize their content. But the hashtag #myfirstposteveromg isn’t a folder people are using—and