‘Hashtags are maybe like those color-coded back-pocket bandannas that gay men began using in the ’70s to show that they were into this or that kind of sex’

“Twitter users increasingly follow hashtags as attentively as they do single-author Twitter feeds. As a subject crests in the popular imagination, certain hashtags become affixed to the story — or to a way of seeing the story. You tend to be loyal to your hashtags, at least for a few days, and track them wherever they go. Hashtags are maybe like those color-coded back-pocket bandannas that gay men began using in the ’70s to show that they were into this or that kind of sex. Only way dorkier and not sexy.” —The New York Times explaining Twitter hashtags to the uninitiated