The past decade or so has seen the momentous rise of the hashtag. This humble symbol is already being used to track the most popular news stories of the year, and in the future it will make searching for information about any given historical event much easier.
Twitter has released its list of the most popular tweets, handles, celebrities and hashtags (among others) to compile their review of the year 2017, and have devoted an entire section to the most popular hashtags in the United States that were related to activism.
1. #Resist
2. #MAGA
3. #ImpeachTrump
4. #TrumpTrain
5. #WomensMarch
6. #NotMyPresident
7. #BlackLivesMatter
8. #NoDAPL
9. #TakeAKnee
10. #BoycottNFL
Another hashtag that became a global phenomenon this year, and that certainly inspired TIME magazine decision to choose “The Silence Breakers” as their “person” of the year, was #MeToo.
This hashtag ignited a conversation around abuse and sexual harassment that has not been had before.
The hashtag #MeToo very quickly went viral late in 2017. Source: Twitter
Online activism is often criticized because it doesn’t always coincide with activism and action in the real world, but those that come after us will certainly be able to picture this time in history, and every era that uses this new way of documenting the issues we are faced with.