January 19, 2014

Hashtagr – aggregating hashtags over multiple platforms

Posted by Dr. Laura Guertin

As usual, this technology tidbit that came to me via Twitter caught my eye:

I certainly don’t use all of the available social media channels available, but I knew I wanted to explore this more.  Because I am not on Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest, I’ve often wondered what I’m missing on those platforms, especially during professional geology conferences where hashtags are becoming utilized more and more.

The website Hashtagr is a simple site with a simple description on the About page:

Hashtagr was created by three college students who saw the unifying social potential of Hashtags. Hashtags have become the world’s chatroom. Unfortunately, we noticed that although there are many platforms that utilize hashtags, there wasn’t one that aggregated them cross-platform. Thus, Hashtagr was born.

Why am I not surprised that three college students could make this happen???

At this time, their search engine only pulls from Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram Photos & Videos, and Vine Videos – Google+ and Facebook will be added soon.

So I gave it a whirl and discovered many images from #GSA125 and #AGU13 (… and found some images that were clearly NOT part of the meetings!).  I’m not sure if there would be a classroom/educational application of Hashtagr in my courses, but it still provides an interesting social media snapshot of events – all from a single hashtag.