Just when it seems like all social media can offer is bad news and cat photos, Instagram unveils its top hashtag for 2015, and it isn’t either of those. For the third year in a row, the most used hashtag of the year, according to the Instagram blog, was #Love.
It makes sense that “love” would be one of the most popular hashtags on the platform, especially when Kendall Jenner’s photo of her heart-shaped hair attracted over 3.2 million likes.
While many users pay little attention to the hashtags they use, often abusing the tool by hashtagging entire sentences, it has become increasingly useful, not just for searching and finding related content, but also for providing important data. Hashtags on Instagram, for example, have aided in the health care industries and have become integral in monitoring and researching concerns such as underage drinking and food-borne illnesses. Further, hashtags and users are responsible for other positive efforts such as bringing about awareness through various social and political campaigns.
Over at Twitter, #LoveWins took the forefront with more than 6.2 million tweets — most in relation to the Supreme Court ruling on same-sex marriage — according to CNN Money, But search results in 2015 weren’t nearly as heartwarming: When it comes to searching on Bing, topics such as the Paris terror attacks, the Ashley Madison hack, and natural disasters, dominated the year’s top searches.
But, if you ever need a quick pick-me-up via social media, Instagram is your best bet. The #Love is currently mentioned in more than 800 million posts on the platform, many of which include other equally warm and fuzzy hashtags.
