The hashtag has long been used in information technology to highlight special meaning. It was eventually used in Internet Relay Chat to label groups and topics. With the advent of social media, the hashtag found a new home.

Social media has drastically popularized the use of hashtag (#), also known as the number or pound sign, to make it easier for people to find topics of interest. If you have enough people talking about a particular topic using the same hashtag, that then becomes a trending topic.

Twitter and Instagram are just two social media outlets that have greatly utilized the hashtag. Facebook was late in supporting hashtags, but its users have caught on, and now it seems like no social media service is complete if it doesn’t support the use of the hashtag.

So what new services have surfaced that are giving new meaning to the hashtag?

Super

Super is a new social platform that promotes creativity in posts. It features starters such as “The Best,” “The Worst,” “I Wish,” “Check Out” and “Don’t Ever,” to name a few, to help you get started with your creative post. When the service started, it did not support the use of hashtags, but now you can sign your posts with a hashtag and expect it to work much like how hashtags work on other platforms.

Super also now features trending hashtags and starters, most popular posts, newest people, Strips and nearby posts. Or just have fun browsing through what other people are posting using the service. Super is available for both iOS and Android.

Raptr’s Plays.tv

Raptr, an online gaming platform, launched Plays.tv, a social platform that allows gamers to share their special in-game moments. The topics are sorted through hashtags. making it easier for other gamers to find videos related to specific video games or topics.

Trio

Trio is a newly launched app that aims to take creativity to the next level by allowing users to mashup different forms of content, such as photos, videos, GIFs and music, into one masterpiece that is shareable to their friends or the rest of the world. When you’re done with your mashup masterpiece, which I’m guessing involves adorable kittens and Taylor Swift, you can add a caption to describe it or add a hashtag.

I’m still not certain how hashtags play out in Trio since the search function only allows you to search for other users, but I’m guessing in the future, if more people are using the app, there will be trending topics based on hashtags, as well as the option to search for hashtags.

photo credit: #goodtimes via photopin (license)