The The Use of Media Hashtag (#) to Organize New Social Movements

Abstract

Nowadays, hashtags are an effective tool in new media to express issues and communicate with people. This study aims to analyze the effects of hashtags as a new media tool in organizing and directing new social movements. Moreover, how hashtags can be used to build community and encourage new social movements to interact and share were examined in this study. In this study, instances of hashtags (#MeToo), (#BlackLivesMatter), and (#IceBucketChallenge) have been able to achieve social, political, and health changes in the world, and have conveyed several personalities and officials. The results of this study showed that new social movements are effectively relying on hashtags as a new and powerful tool to organize their business, especially to raise awareness of social and political issues and to encourage social change and reform. It has also become clear that new social movements must have a good understanding of how to use hashtags and deal with them responsibly and effectively. Furthermore, new social movements must have a thorough knowledge of the technical principles of hashtags on different platforms. Additionally, the findings of this study discovered that hashtags can make a social movement's topic a trending topic on social media, helping to increase the movement's global reach and make it a topic of discussion both nationally and internationally, as the #MeToo movement did.