I have spent the year obsessed with Instagram and have learned a lot about how hashtags are used for listening, connecting, sharing and engaging inside of Instagram. This is an extension to my past obsessions of living inside of Facebook and Twitter since 2006. Feel free to join me on Instagram.
I believe that hashtags are the new Jingle. In the future, hashtags will be the "catch phrase" and the jingles which some of us have ingrained in our heads forever will be yet another experience which does not transfer to the next generation. Marketers will need to find other channels to connect with their target audience. I believe the hashtag economy is already a multi-billion dollar business. Maybe more. These days hashtags are already driving commerce, driving "discovery," driving community, tied into pop culture and so much more.
And unlike Facebook and Twitter and other social media channels which can be dark at times, I have observed that on Instagram, people are making it a point to share the golden moments of their days, their weeks, their months with their friends and family / customers on their Instagram accounts. More than anything else, while Facebook has become "the Like Economy," Instagram seems to be all about Love.
These observations have inspired me to start curating a new conference experience. And on December 3 in New York City, I am looking forward to hosting "The Hashtag Econonomy." The core focus of this event is "how the advent of the hashtag is changing the face of business" and will continue in the style of my #140conf events. I am interested in discovering people who have experienced the effects of the growth of hashtags in a specific business sector and how they feel their future will be impacted as communication technologies continue to evolve.
If you are interested in speaking, please visit this link to submit your proposal.