Use of hashtags to retrieve information on the web

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1108/EL-01-2017-0011
Published date03 April 2018
Date03 April 2018
Pages286-304
AuthorHanadi Buarki,Bashaer Alkhateeb
Subject MatterInformation & knowledge management,Information & communications technology,Internet
Use of hashtags to retrieve
information on the web
Hanadi Buarki and Bashaer Alkhateeb
Department of Library and Information Science, College of Basic Education,
Ardeya, Kuwait
Abstract
Purpose This paper aims to nd outhow people use hashtags as a medium of informationretrieval and
dissemination,and how they are used in social media tools, such as Instagram.
Design/methodology/approach A quantitative question estimated the participantsuse of the
hashtags during the workshop.Statistical data of the participants and their posts were collected from social
network analysistools. The posts that included the workshops designated hashtags wereretrieved, recorded,
coded and analysedto collect qualitative data.
Findings In total, 74 (46 per cent) participants used the workshopshashtags to share posts, the retrieval
of the hashtags declinedby time and Google search engine retrieved the maximum results. It was found that a
hashtag would be common when associated with descriptors, and that its use depends on its popularity,
followers and its survival time. Finally,hashtags connect people, allow them to express their enthusiasm to
reveal commoninterests and networks them through social media tools such as Instagram.
Research limitations/implications The research limitations were in relation to the participants
demographicinformation, the non-identication of theirgender and hashtags being misspelt.
Practical implications The research project summarises the experiences that social media has made
connecting easier through the right use of hashtags by providing 24/7 free feedback, the possibility to
exchange ideas and by their involvement in promoting and organising events. It also indicates interaction
among peoplesharing the same interest by retrieving subject-basedhashtags.
Originality/value When retrieving information related to hashtags, it is recommended that multi-
retrieval systems,social media tools and search engines should be consulted and not depend on a solo system
or tool. Future research is recommended in search for a multi-retrieval social media and search engine tool
that standardisesthe use of hashtags and will retrieve information from differentplatforms.
Keywords Information retrieval, Kuwait, Social media, Social networks, Instagram, Hashtags
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
To connect and share ideas, researchers, students and the public publish content using
different social media apps. Social media is freely available; one merely needs a device and
an internet connection to access it. Social media, published to reach people of similar
interests, is often organised for later retrieval and dissemination by hashtags. Hashtags
assist in the ability to retrieve information and to follow trends. Some users incorporate
them because their followers have postedcontent referring to a certain hashtag, and others
invent hashtags to staycoolor to gain attention.
This study has not received funding from any organisation in the public, commercial or nonprot
sectors. However, the researchers appreciate the support and facilities that their aliation, the Public
Authorityfor Applied Educationand Training, provided. The researchers also appreciate the obligation
and enthusiasm of the sessionspanel and organisers for devoting their time and eorts to the workshop.
EL
36,2
286
Received11 January 2017
Revised28 May 2017
Accepted11 July 2017
TheElectronic Library
Vol.36 No. 2, 2018
pp. 286-304
© Emerald Publishing Limited
0264-0473
DOI 10.1108/EL-01-2017-0011
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0264-0473.htm
Social tagging, used through social media systems, is not only a free but also
uncontrolled way to index and organise Web 2.0 resources. Web 2.0 encourages Web
users to share and publish user-generated data. Gao et al. (2011) dened social tagging as
the Web 2.0 way to organise online resources. Xu et al. (2006) proposed ve categories of
tag taxonomy: two categories of context-based tags with the rst used to describe the
content of an object and the second to provide the context of an object in which it was
created; attribute tags which are inherent to the attributes of an object; subjective tags
which express user opinion; and organisational tags which identify personal information.
Gao et al. (2011) presented tags where characteristics are modelled by words in text
resources, such as Web pages and blogs. Their results have shown that the proposed
method could properly capture to what extent the users have reached consensus on how
to use tags.
Huang et al. (2010) dened a hashtagas the specic name for a tag in Twitter. Its name is
derived from the symbol #(the pound ornumber sign), also known as a hash mark. When
a hashtag is created, it needs to be publicised so that the information it conveys is
disseminated. A hashtag is used to enhance topical access(Efron, 2011), repost a post,
follow experts, track certain hashtagsof ones own interest, allow the expansion of a query
by using standardised keywords and to organisethe results of group searches (Efron,2010,
2011). Higheld and Leaver (2014) explainedthat a hashtag provides links to the same topic
of interest and is used to retrieve and classify images. In addition, hashtags are used as
lters for outliningthe scope of research projects (Higheld and Leaver, 2014).
Chris Messina, a former Google designer, was the rst to propose using the hashtag in
2007 on Twitter, where it was rst used to create groups. The idea of the hashtag was
originally rejected by Twitter, but has now become one of its most importantand indeed
indispensablefeatures (Edwards, 2013).
Keywords, tags and hashtags
Akeyword is a term found in the title and content of an article, as well as being counted as
ametatagofaWebpages content. A keyword, tag and hashtag all have the shared
purpose of retrieving information or content and of catching user attention. A hashtag
has the shortest lifetime relevancy among the three(Duvauchelle, 2013). When
searching for a topic of interest, users create hashtags by placing the symbol # directly
before a keyword. The query then can be retrieved and tracked through hashtags, other
users of the hashtag can be followed, and a list of posts on that query can be retrieved.
Throughout this study, the term hashtag will be used to represent the terms keywords
and tags.
Instagram as a microblog
A microblog is an information medium maintained by an individual. It consists of brief
comments on posts (an image or video)written by one person. The post is then sent and read
by followerswith whom the owner shares information. This information could be a
written opinion, a question,an idea or an image (Efron,2011).
Manikonda et al.(2014)stated that Instagram is an application available on mobile
smartphones (iOS and Android) and on a Web interface. It is a micro-blogging platform of
images and videos that are used to publish and share related posts of an event to accepted
followers on the same network. Followers are added to the users prole with a choice of
allowing private or public access.Instagram is described as asymmetric; when A follows B,
B does not need to follow A back.
Use of
hashtags to
retrieve
information
287

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