Remember when social media was fairly new and everyone went hashtag-crazy? Hashtagging became such a huge phenomenon, countless best practices were released practically begging people to limit the number of hashtags they put on their posts.

Using a bunch of hashtags makes sense: They’re basically keywords, and as such, could be valuable tools for getting discovered by new followers—potential customers. But too many hashtags can look spammy.

Spammers spoil the fun for everyone by taking advantage of hashtagging—they often use hashtags that have nothing to do with their posts, just to get eyeballs on their content. It’s annoying and unfair for users who follow hashtags that they’re serious about.

Hashtagging by spammers has become such a problem that Instagram is removing the option to follow hashtags, effective Dec. 13. Hashtags you follow will no longer be visible on your feed starting on that date as well.

Does this move point to the death of the hashtag? Not necessarily—users can still search for related content, and plenty of tagged posts will still end up in their discovery feeds. But with algorithms continuing to advance, it’s hard to give hashtags much credit anymore as the best or only way we’re served up relevant content.

And if you’re trying to connect with a younger clientele, you risk looking out of touch with social trends if you use too many hashtags (or any at all?) in your posts. That might not sound like a big deal, but ask yourself: Where do my customers spend their time?

Outside of Instagram, hashtags may be more essential on some other social apps—X/Twitter, for example—and I wouldn’t suggest abandoning them completely. But platforms are getting smarter, and AI is making it easier to recognize what’s in a photo or video without text to note it.

Statistics on hashtag use and engagement are difficult to find, but in its take on the dos and don’ts on hashtagging published a few months ago, the American Marketing Association acknowledged hashtags aren’t what they used to be, though the group recommended still using them.

Sure, keep using hashtags. It certainly won’t do any damage to have a few well-thought-out tags in the comments section of your feed post, for example. But other aspects of social media—such as photo and video quality, engagement, and potentially paid content—should take priority as the new year dawns.

(Photo: Getty Images)

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