This week Ray Rice was cut from the Baltimore Ravens.
While another post based on the decisions of the NFL in regards to marketing maybe in order, that is not what we are here to discuss. I believe the hashtag #WhyIStayed surged in popularity because of the despicable and public choices of Ray Rice. The hashtag #WhyIStayed was made for women who had been part of abusive relationships to help others understand why they stayed in that relationship. Similarly interesting is the #WhyILeft hashtag helping others see the reason why it is worth leaving an abusive relationship.
Enter DiGiorno Pizza. The social media manager at DiGionro, hopefully, unwittingly tweeted “You Had Pizza”. Now if the hashtag was referencing any number of other things #WhyIStayed: in the stands during the Rams Blowout, on the couch while that terrible movie was playing, on the live feed during Apple’s latest announcement, it would have been appropriate and potentially funny.
There have been lots of great funny hastags (#removealetterruinaband)but there have been very few serious ones. Understandably the assumption of the tweeter may have been that the hastag must have been a humorous one. Before you join in a hashtag conversation be sure that you at least look at the tag in use to get the context of its use. Clicking on the hashtag will show other people’s use of it. If the social media manager at DiGionro had done this he would have seen some heart wrenching tweets.
Feel free to use hashtags and join in on conversations on twitter but do so with caution.
What is your favorite hashtag?