This article is part of a citizen-media data-analysis project, a collaboration between RuNet Echo and the Maryland Institute for Technology in the Humanities. Explore the complete article series on ...

They’re no longer a growth hack or a shortcut to discovery. Platforms now treat hashtags as contextual signals — one of many inputs they use to understand what content is about and who it’s relevant ...

Hashtags are a pervasive feature of social media posts and used widely in search engines. Anything with the intent of attracting a wide audience usually comes with a memorable hashtag — #MeToo, ...