The transformation of the hash tag: A contemporary analysis of digital cooperation and the digital economy, and a debate on free labor

By: Denzel Austin

Introduction: The project/platform


Hashtags.org defines the hashtag as "an easy way for people to categorize, find and join conversations on a particular topic ... used to highlight keywords or topics within a Tweet [or other social media post] and can be placed anywhere within a post" (Hashtags.org, n.d.). This paper seeks to isolate and redefine hashtags an an interactive marketing tool based on free labor in the digital economy by using the Twitter platform as a case study.

If the purpose of the hashtag is so that users can connect with one another through whatever term they hash tag, it is easy to see how they can be conversation builders. However, in the digital economy, I will argue, the hashtag has been transformed into simply an interactive slogan rather than a conversation builder as brands now have an economic incentive to create a "hashtag" to market their brand.

Conversations or products of the digital economy, a question of intent: Why this is important.
Terranova, quoting Don Tapscott on The Digital Economy, writes the digital economy is “a new economy based on the networking of human intelligence ...[which] provides the much needed value-added, which is essential to the economic health of the organization” (Terranova, 2000, p.37). On social media channels, brands rely on user participation, that is to say if there isn't a network of users (human intelligence) that join in on the linked conversation (linked by the hashtags itself) the conversation will cease to be a conversation. However, this becomes even more muddied when one considers the intention behind hashtags created by brands and corporations. Because the motivation is not to incite a conversation necessarily, but to build a brand slogan, if hash tags are no longer tools of conversation to connect communities what they become are signifiers of brands, but then this begs the question of why fans join in?

Main question & Method
Considering the issue of free labor, Terranova's concept of the social factory is something important to consider. Terranova writes, "the “social factory” describes a process whereby “work processes have shifted from the factory to society, thereby setting in motion a truly complex machine [that] simultaneously voluntarily given and unwaged, enjoyed and exploited, free labor on the Net includes the activity of building Web sites, modifying software packages, reading and participating in mailing lists, and building virtual spaces on MUDs and MOOs" (Terranova, 2000, p.33). Building on this concept, using the Twitter as an example of a virtual space, when user's "buy-in" to branded hashtags, they are essentially contributing to marketing plan. Fig. 2 demonstrates just how muddied this gets when one considers hashtags can now even be found on merchandise. The effect of this? When someone sees a hashtag on another person's clothing, they to are invited to join in on the interactive marketing campaign rather than conversation.This considered, my main question is a debate on free labor: Why do users participate in hashtags created by brands and business conglomerates, what is the resulting effect, and is this indeed free labor?

To tackle this question, my main methods will be literary survey. I believe this is the strongest approach as this project is concerned with social behaviour such as the aforementioned social factory. Because this is a question of free labor, Terranova's article serves as a strong starting point on which this paper will be focused, and studies on new media & social media will provide supplementary commentary to build this discussion. Also, since this project is focused more on the idea of free labor than the broad scope of participatory culture I believe literary survey is a stronger approach than direct observation or focus groups because most of this project is based on theory.

Concluding thoughts: Why this question matters, An issue of free labor?
Why hash tags? Why participate? What has this done?

Hashtags.org offers four packages to essentially track and compare hashtags: Individual ($49.99/month), Business ($99.99/month), Enterprise ($189.99/month) & Agency ($349.99/month). Twitter offers countless analytic tools to monitor and track hashtags embedded into the platform as well. The individual package for Hashtags.org includes: Track 2 Hashtags, Compare 2 Hashtags On Same Chart, 2 Saved Views, 1 Month Data Storage, Export Data, CSV,XML,JSON & Normal Support. The agency plan to compare offers almost 20 times more data for 3.5 times more monthly. Users that participate make $0. Should this matter? More than that, does this become a question of privacy if yes?

While this paper is not advocating for users to be paid, rather why participate, the question of why so much time and money is being invested into hashtags is troubling. To revisit Hashtag.org's definition  "an easy way for people to categorize, find and join conversations on a particular topic" in conjunction with the issues that arise in this study, there appears to be nothing "easy" about the hashtag and it is a rather loaded marketing tool. When a user simply adds a hashtag and joins in on a brand-related trend, they are building the brand and simultaneously providing economic value to the creators. This demonstrates a major shift, and as Terranova writes, "it is fundamental to move beyond the notion that cyberspace is about escaping reality in order to understand how the reality of the Internet is deeply connected to the development of late postindustrial societies as a whole" (Terranova, 2000, p.34). Nevertheless then, consequently, the hashtag and free labor are inherently linked, hence why I argue the hashtag has been transformed.

Relevant Literature & Context
Flew, T. (2008) New Media: An introduction. Oxford University Press Hashtag Analytics for your Brand, Business, Product, Service, Event or Blog. (n.d.). Retrieved October 28, 2015, from https://www.hashtags.org/

Terranova, T. (2000). Free Labor: Producing Culture for the Digital Economy. Social Text 18.2. Retrieved October 28, 2015, http://instruct.uwo.ca/mit/3771-001/Free_Labour__Terranova-Tiziana.pdf

Williams, A., Tsudik, G., Soriente, C., & De Cristofaro, E. (2012). Hummingbird: Privacy at the Time of Twitter. In 2012 IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy (pp. 285-299). IEEE