According to Taylor Loren from Later.com, Instagram posts with at least one hashtag average 12.6% engagement (commenting or liking) than those without any hashtags.  Hashtags are essentially a mode to gain popularity, followers, and likes on your Instagram account.

If you have an Instagram account, and odds are that you do, you have most likely used a hashtag of some variety. Socially, these hashtags are to connect users through commonality, yet there are many popular hashtags to choose from.  For example,

#WCW #WomanCrushWednesday or #MCM #ManCrushMonday (both of these to celebrate the significant other in your life, or share a new relationship)

#TBT #ThrowbackThursday or #FBF or #FlashBackFriday (for these you can share a photo from yesteryear, however many users consider last week a “throwback” or “flashback” for some reason…)

#ImWithHer or #MAGA (for politicians and political influence)

Socially, we use these hashtags to potentially see other individuals that have similar posts to us.  However, we have to be literate in these terms and others to be a functioning member of the Instagram world. We essentially gain a literacy when we gain followers, etc. from Instagram because it means we are doing something “right”.  Yet, we seem to be enabling one of our more vulnerable populations with this literacy, our teens and young adults.