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Do hashtags serve any purpose in the modern social media environment?
This issue became more prominent in 2024, especially after Threads took over a completely different approach to using hashtagsincluding a limit of one tag per update.
This was intended to limit spamming of popular topics with unrelated updates, but it also highlighted the declining value of manual hashtags, as modern algorithms and sorting systems can now infer context and topic information from the details of the post itself.
What LinkedIn told me earlier this yearalthough it still supports hashtags:
“We also take into account topics of conversation and keywords to help uncover relevant information for professionals looking to advance their careers.”
Progress in semantic search capability they essentially made hashtags unnecessary to discover, and this week X owner Elon Musk directly urged users to stop adding hashtags to their updates.
As Musk notes, the system “doesn’t need them anymore,” which again points to the fact that hashtags don’t provide the same value they once did.
But maybe they can still help increase reach and engagement?
Probably not.
According to Instagram boss Adam Mosseriwhile hashtags can help match your posts to specific communities, which can have some discoverability benefits, overall, the reach advantage of hashtags is virtually nil, while a LinkedIn expert Richard van der Blom has found, in his researchthat hashtags also no longer help to expand the reach of a post in that app either.
Although they can still serve a purpose, in terms of community building and bond strengthening.
Perhaps, through the discovery of hashtags, you can still establish new groups and followers, even if they are not related to popular trends, while many people want to add tags as a normal behavior.
And some social media consultants and experts will still swear by hashtags as a means of improving reach. This may or may not be true on a case-by-case basis, but the overall feedback from platforms is that hashtags don’t really do much on this front.
In fact, Instagram even has removed the option to follow hashtags. Yet at the same time, the Threads team is still there recommending that users add topic tags to their posts.
So there are some conflicting notes about how and why you should use them, but the general consensus is that hashtags aren’t as valuable as they once were, in terms of a systematic process, because algorithms and systems are now much better at detecting topic relevance and resonance from the wider context of fasting.
So you can still add hashtags and you may find that they help you connect with the right audience. But their actual application, in terms of helping the right people find the most relevant content, isn’t as meaningful in the age of customized “For You” feeds.
You might also want to consider adding tags when the topic you want to target isn’t explicitly mentioned in the text of your post, although a lot of matching is now also done at the profile level, meaning you’re likely to reach the right audience , even if you don’t include the exact terms.
Either way, it might be worth noting for your approach in 2025, in considering what you need to do to maximize your performance.
With the platforms themselves saying they don’t need them, it might be time to move on from hashtags as a strategic consideration (if you haven’t already).