Talk:The transformation of the hash tag: A contemporary analysis of digital cooperation and the digital economy, and a debate on free labor/@comment-27018138-20151021143956

You can look at how companies benefit from the low-cost aspect of advertising on social media websites, compared to using other forms of media such as TV or newspapers. There is also the fact that social media reaches a much wider audience than traditional forms of media. It's also much easier for companies to direct their advertisements at the target audience specifically. Platforms like Facebook allow administrators to choose the settings for the reach of their posts; so they're allowed to choose a specific age margin, geographical location, etc. This is obviously not feasible with traditional media.

You can also look at it from the consumer's perspective, but add on to that the perspective of people who participate in sharing and spreading hashtags related to brands and companies. What is their motivation for doing so? Are they a consumer of the brand themselves, or do they just enjoy participating in a shared activity? What do they benefit from doing so? How does this affect companies/brands? If more people share a brand hashtag, but not all of them actually buy the product, how does this harm/benefit the brand/company?