Hashtags, which is a form of metadata tag (for you programmers out there) became widely popular within cyberculture from the early days on Twitter and continue to reside there heavily even today.
A hashtag is simply adding the number symbol (#) before a word or string of words with no spaces. However, as the Internet continues to bloom with Social Networks, hashtags may have gained popularity via Twitter but they most certainly have not stopped there.
Hashtags can now also be seen on Facebook (though this causes some annoyances in some), on Instagram, Google+ and other social networks, these forms of metadata tags were first seen within IRC (one of the earlier forms of online chatting) as a way to label groups or topics, today, we use them still as labels, to make a statement or to connect people who are talking around the web about the same worldly event, cause or topic.
Many television shows use a hashtag for its fans to talk with each other on Facebook for example about the episode, or LIVE events will use them to let people know what is happening as it happens. This too is true for when news breaks, hashtags keep people informed in real-time.
Now you have access to a free hashtag hub known as, Tagboard, where you can enter a hashtag into its search engine and wherever that hashtag has been used on the web will concentrate into one hub. Therefore, if you are a brand, group, or hashtag inventor, you are able to easily keep up with how the hashtag of your choosing is used and where it is being used online.
This is not only great for reputation management but learning how people interpret your hashtag can be very informative. Tagboard can be great to keep up with specific hashtags you are interested in, much like topics, or as they have in the past, keep you constantly informed about a worldly event unlike ever before.
Basically, Tagboard moves you beyond just Twitter and allows you to view the hashtag as it goes around the web, all visible from one spot.