#Hashtags - a Window into our Collective Conscious

"What makes them unique is they describe your emotional state. In any networked environment it is difficult for you to get your nuances across, your tone of voice. They let you describe your tweet but they also enable you to turn it into satire or comedy or make an oblique point," Mr Walker says.

This is incredibly cool. 

Twitter hashtags have lost their practical usage, but have instead become an online "fashion statement."  Over elections, the press will debate which hashtags are being used - and those in political circles will vie to create the one that catches on.  You can gain fame or infamy from a #tellviceverything or a #newlabattcampaign.

Like all fashion statements, hashtags have become projections of our internal self-images; who we feel we are, how we want to be perceived or, on occasion, what just slips out unguarded.  More than saying what we want to share, our words are opening windows into our selves.

The Internet, and vehicles like Twitter in particular, have created what has been seen as a safe window of expression for people to share their feelings and opinions.  Angry diatribes or emotional duress could be expressed, as all feelings yearn to be, without social consequences/stigmatization.  At least, that was the theory.  In practice, nothing stays anonymous forever – online communication is increasingly holding each and every one of us to task for the things we say, wherever we say them.

The ultimate forum for free speech is organically forcing a social commitment to responsibility of speech, too.  Libertarians might decry any form of speech moderation as a breach of freedom, but this isn’t a government imposition – it’s a social reality.  Just as you can’t physically punch someone without expecting some form of response, you can no longer expect to be able to say or do whatever you want without consequence.  Far from an external imposition this organic, social accountability is incenting internal moderation – ownership of self, if you will.  The truth, as they say, will set you free.

With consequence comes accountability; with accountability comes reciprocity; with reciprocity comes empathy, which in turn leads to a more strategic, collaborative world. 

It’s where we’re headed; a Conscious Society.