#Tenyearsandcounting

MANILA, Philippines -  Ten years ago on Aug. 23, technology evangelist Chris Messina tweeted a proposal for people on Twitter to use the pound sign (#) before their tweets to group conversations on a similar topic.

Ten years later, the hashtag has become a part of everyone’s speech, changed the nature of communication online, and has become a powerful way to aggregate global conversations and movements.

As it observed the 10th birthday of the hashtag, Twitter shared to Philippine media the top hashtags in the country, which fairly showed the dominant population in the Philippines’ twitterverse – millennials and couch potatoes who closely follow the latest developments in Filipino telenovelas and noontime shows.

After the #PHElections launched for the 2016 national elections, the Twitter list showed that the next top hashtags in the Philippines are #AlDub for the hit TV loveteam that developed on the longest running variety show Eat Bulaga!; #OTWOL or the acronyms of Filipino TV romantic comedy series On The Wings of Love; and #KathNiel for the loveteam of ABS-CBN stars Daniel Padilla and Kathryn Bernardo.

“The love team AlDub garnered a lot of fans; this is the first time that the Filipinos proved that they are in fact very active on Twitter. Reports show that the couple’s fan base produced 11 million tweets in a day. The couple is also part of the Guinness World of Records for having more than 40 million Tweets. Since their rise to fame, there have been at least 350 hashtags related to the couple,” Twitter said.

The next top hashtags are #EpilogueinManila for the Korean Pop or KPOP global phenomenon, which showed that the Philippines was not spared from the craze.

“The Korean boyband Bangtan Boys or BTS had their concert in the Philippines in July 2016 and Filipino fans were not shy to express their admiration and love for the group through the #EpilogueinManila hashtag,” Twitter said.

Next is  #LawinPh, which was used after one of the strongest typhoon hit the Philippines in 2013.

“The typhoon made an impact because it left 18 people dead and caused damage to agriculture amounting to P10.2 billion,” Twitter said.

Following #Lawin is #Haiyan, the hashtag used after Typhoon Yolanda (international name Haiyan) hit the Philippines.

“The typhoon is said to be one of the strongest typhoons in recent history; the typhoon left an estimate of 10,000 casualties in the provinces of Leyte, Samar, and other parts of the Visayas. People from around the world, including celebrities, expressed their sympathy for the victims,” Twitter said.

#PapalVisitPH was the hashtag used for conversations on the January 2015 visit of Pope Francis in the Philippines.

“Smart Communications Inc. reported that there were more than 3.3 million tweets related to the Papal visit; tweets regarding the Pope’s visit peaked at 3,664 per second on Jan. 15,” Twitter said.

The 2015 Miss Universe triumph of Pia Wutzbach also propelled the #MissUniverse2015 hashtag on thelist.

“A lot of things happened in the 2015 Miss Universe contest. Steve Harvey’s mistake isn’t the only thing that made 2015’s Miss Universe memorable for the Filipinos; after decades, the Philippines finally won the prestigious contest,”Twitter said.

Next is #Walangpasok, which Filipinos, especially students, are fond of.

“The hashtag is often used to announce that classes had been cancelled due to a typhoon or other unforeseeable events. Oftentimes, this hashtag trends during the typhoon season and usually makes it to the top of the trending list,” Twitter said.

The hashtag, Twitter said, is ubiquitous globally, with an average of 125 million hashtags shared every day, helping people on Twitter see what’s happening in the world and explore what is being talked about right now. 

“When something happens in the world, it happens on Twitter, and hashtags have helped to galvanize some of the most important moments in the past 10 years,” the company said.

“Since this first Tweet, the hashtag has become a part of the common vernacular. From monumental world events and awareness campaigns to weekly throwback pics, it all happens with a hashtag, and it all happens on Twitter,”it said.