Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, has made it clear: hashtags no longer have a relevant function for reach. In an interview, he confirmed that the role of hashtags has been reduced. Instead, algorithmic content distribution is becoming increasingly important. Mosseri explained that while hashtags can still serve for rough categorization, they no longer have a measurable impact on the visibility of a post, neither on Instagram nor on Facebook.
LinkedIn is following this trend: the former practice of specifically building reach through hashtags has long been obsolete there as well. Content is now distributed based on user behavior, interactions, and semantic relevance – not via keywords with a hash symbol.
The History of the Hashtag
The hashtag was born on Twitter in 2007. US developer Chris Messina suggested using the hash symbol to group topics. What began as a nerdy suggestion quickly became a global phenomenon. #Love, #Foodporn, #ThrowbackThursday – hardly any post on social networks came without them.
During the heyday of hashtags (2012 to 2018), the rule was: the more hashtags, the better. They were considered a social media SEO trick to make posts more discoverable and viral.
Why Hashtags No Longer Have Significance on LinkedIn and Instagram
Today, other criteria count. The platforms have learned to distribute content based on user interest, time spent, likes, and comments. The algorithms analyze text content, image descriptions, interaction behavior, and semantic connections entirely without #.
Especially on LinkedIn, it's evident that even posts without hashtags achieve high reach if they provide real added value, initiate discussions, or invite interaction. Here, hashtags seem more like a relic from a bygone social media era – at best as an organizational aid, but without influence on the algorithm.
What Does This Have to Do With AI?
Artificial intelligence is changing how information is processed, categorized, and distributed. Instead of rigid keywords, AI systems today recognize contextual relationships. Modern algorithms analyze semantic content; they understand what a post is really about.
This means that even without a hashtag, a system recognizes whether a post is about sustainability, mechanical engineering, or sales. Tools like Natural Language Processing (NLP) and machine learning make classic keyword tagging superfluous. And they do so much more precisely, personalized, and dynamically than any hashtag ever could.
How Is Information Found Now?
In a world without hashtags, content counts. People find relevant information through recommendations, natural language search queries, or algorithmic suggestions based on their behavior. Platforms rely on semantic search engines, personalized feeds, and context-based filters.
For companies, this means: content must be well-written, precisely formulated, and clearly structured thematically. Pure hashtag lists without context are losing value. Quality beats quantity, both in terms of content and distribution.
KLIO: The Chat With Source Citation
This is exactly where KLIO comes in: the AI-powered chat solution from classix.ai revolutionizes information retrieval in companies. Instead of rummaging through folders or PDFs, you simply ask a question in natural language – KLIO delivers the appropriate answer with a direct source citation.
Whether it's price lists, assembly instructions, or safety manuals: KLIO understands what it's about and shows the right information in seconds. Thanks to modern AI technology, the need to classify information via rigid keywords or hashtags is eliminated.
Just as hashtags used to provide orientation, KLIO takes over today – only more intelligently, faster, and more reliably.
Conclusion: The hashtag is dead, but information lives on. With AI solutions like KLIO, a new era of knowledge transfer begins – clear, context-related, and always with a source, without passing data on to third-party providers.
LinkedIn is following this trend: the former practice of specifically building reach through hashtags has long been obsolete there as well. Content is now distributed based on user behavior, interactions, and semantic relevance – not via keywords with a hash symbol.
The History of the Hashtag
The hashtag was born on Twitter in 2007. US developer Chris Messina suggested using the hash symbol to group topics. What began as a nerdy suggestion quickly became a global phenomenon. #Love, #Foodporn, #ThrowbackThursday – hardly any post on social networks came without them.
During the heyday of hashtags (2012 to 2018), the rule was: the more hashtags, the better. They were considered a social media SEO trick to make posts more discoverable and viral.
Why Hashtags No Longer Have Significance on LinkedIn and Instagram
Today, other criteria count. The platforms have learned to distribute content based on user interest, time spent, likes, and comments. The algorithms analyze text content, image descriptions, interaction behavior, and semantic connections entirely without #.
Especially on LinkedIn, it's evident that even posts without hashtags achieve high reach if they provide real added value, initiate discussions, or invite interaction. Here, hashtags seem more like a relic from a bygone social media era – at best as an organizational aid, but without influence on the algorithm.
What Does This Have to Do With AI?
Artificial intelligence is changing how information is processed, categorized, and distributed. Instead of rigid keywords, AI systems today recognize contextual relationships. Modern algorithms analyze semantic content; they understand what a post is really about.
This means that even without a hashtag, a system recognizes whether a post is about sustainability, mechanical engineering, or sales. Tools like Natural Language Processing (NLP) and machine learning make classic keyword tagging superfluous. And they do so much more precisely, personalized, and dynamically than any hashtag ever could.
How Is Information Found Now?
In a world without hashtags, content counts. People find relevant information through recommendations, natural language search queries, or algorithmic suggestions based on their behavior. Platforms rely on semantic search engines, personalized feeds, and context-based filters.
For companies, this means: content must be well-written, precisely formulated, and clearly structured thematically. Pure hashtag lists without context are losing value. Quality beats quantity, both in terms of content and distribution.
KLIO: The Chat With Source Citation
This is exactly where KLIO comes in: the AI-powered chat solution from classix.ai revolutionizes information retrieval in companies. Instead of rummaging through folders or PDFs, you simply ask a question in natural language – KLIO delivers the appropriate answer with a direct source citation.
Whether it's price lists, assembly instructions, or safety manuals: KLIO understands what it's about and shows the right information in seconds. Thanks to modern AI technology, the need to classify information via rigid keywords or hashtags is eliminated.
Just as hashtags used to provide orientation, KLIO takes over today – only more intelligently, faster, and more reliably.
Conclusion: The hashtag is dead, but information lives on. With AI solutions like KLIO, a new era of knowledge transfer begins – clear, context-related, and always with a source, without passing data on to third-party providers.
