What's in a hashtag? A spark for our passions, in love and in war

I found love in a hopeless place. Yeah, some would argue that a Twitter hashtag is something terrible. They can be manipulated by bots and trolls (#ReleaseTheMemo). They can be hijacked by angry users (#TellingItLikeItIs). They can be just all around strange (#KanyesAnalPlaylist). 

The hashtag's intended purpose — what Chris Messina pitched to Twitter in 2007 — was to bring people together. They do, my relationship being a case in point. I won't bore you with all of the details, but TL;DR TechCrunch's annual conference uses the hashtag #TCDisrupt and including those 10 characters in a tweet is how I met my friend turned significant other.  Read more...