Hashtag History

The hashtag, a now-ubiquitous icon of social media, was first proposed on Twitter by Chris Messina, who earned a bachelor’s degree in communication design from Carnegie Mellon in 2003.

The linked pound symbol originally made it possible for Twitter users to organize content, track discussions and easily follow topics of interest. Since then, hashtag use has exploded. People use it to advertise, carry out social movements and convey humor.