App users can now add hashtags to their own photos in the caption or comment fields. Each hashtag has its own page where all photos with the same hashtag are displayed. Hashtags also have corresponding RSS feeds — http://instagr.am/tags/[hashtag name]/feed/recent.rss — which allow web users to view pools of Instagram photos outside the app for the first time.
Hashtags are just as straightforward on Instagram as they are on Twitter, where the notion of tagging content with the #hashtag syntax for filtering purposes gained widespread recognition. Co-founder Kevin Systrom believes that there’s even more opportunity for connecting content and people through hashtags on Instagram.
Hashtags should be a welcome added feature for users, some of whom have already gravitated toward the idea — #nofilter, for instance, has become a hashtag Instagram users have claimed to indicate that their photos are filter free.
Even more potentially significant, however, is the opportunity hashtags create for brands and organizations. News media and brands have already begun experimenting with the service, but hashtags allow them to tap into Instagram as a platform for social media campaigns.
“We looked around and thought, how can we build something that’s flexible for both users and brands?” says Systrom on the startup’s somewhat unexpected departure from more typical filter and feature releases. “This [addition of hashtags] shows that the company is innovating in an interesting direction,” he says.
To illustrate the brand possibilities, Instagram has forged relationships with Charity: Water, Brisk Iced Tea, NPR and others, who are each launching hashtag...
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