Hashtags link tweeps from one to the other. They help carry and group connected information. When big news breaks, an awards show is on, or if Justin Bieber's beliebers want to just show their support, the whole world can tune into the conversation with just one click. The simplisity of the pound sign, can sometimes impact the world more than expected.
When a Penn State freshman passed away in a car accident, an effortless hashtag brought students together to make a fellow student’s dream come true. Gabriella Sicard (Gaby) was killed Wednesday, December 28, 2011 from injuries in a crash on Interstate-80 the preceding afternoon. http://www.centredaily.com/2011/12/29/3034453/penn-state-student-dies-from-injuries.html
According to friends of Gaby, one of her dreams was to trend on Twitter. When the news broke of the loss of the undergrad, her peers took to the web. They used #flyhighgaby as their hashtag and tweeted their way to a trending topic Thursday night. http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2011/12/fly_high_gaby_penn_state_stude.html
It started with Tweets like this one from @KFural:
"Forever young, I may have never met you. Though I hope you'll be able to see your wish come true trending on twitter. #flyhighgaby"
Then it reached Penn State Athletes and gained national attention from Derek Moye, Rob Bolden, Russel Simmons, Snooki, Kourtney Kardasian, and USA Today College. http://storify.com/annaorso/flyhighgaby
Wegotsaproblem posted this map of the trending topics to her Tumblr. #flyhighgaby is everywhere in the United States.
Now, students are coming together, and continuing to use the hashtag to relay information and cope with the death of Joe Paterno. @SummerAustin01 tweeted:
"I miss you gab. Hope you're having fun with joepa right now!
Shirts like the one that @emily5smith tweeted are being sold and information about them is being updated with the hashtag.
A community of friends, family, classmates, and even strangers were brought together and were able to mourn with each other all because of a simple hashtag. Twitter can reach so many people who have nothing in common, except a hashtag. In this case, it was used to impact the world and the legacy of one girl.
Twitter hashtags are a great way to create a sense of small community in the huge world of Twitter. The passing of Gaby is the perfect example of how a social media trend can bring people together. I participated in helping Gaby trend on Twitter. However, I did have a hard time finding out the whole story right away. Luckily, Twitter eventually gave me the answers I was looking for, because of the trending hashtag; #flyhighgaby. It’s amazing what we are capable of these days because of social media!
ReplyDeleteI notice a lot of times Twitter is used for random thoughts or advertising something, but it is really nice to see that it can help bring a mourning community together. Facebook kind of did the same thing but for some reason Twitter makes it so easy to connect to people we never thought we could before. I think this is because Twitter is less personal than Facebook…It is wonderful that celebrities and public figures can now so easily be apart of movements or #hashtags.
ReplyDeleteI remember seeing this hashtag after her death. In fact, it was how I first learned about her death. It’s incredible how hashtags not only bring awareness to a particular topic but also serve as a universal bond. The heat map of tweets was really interesting. People on the west coast were even tweeting #flyhighgaby. The power of networks for athletes and celebrities really help amplify a message, as seen in this case with the help of people like Rob Bolden and Kourtney Kardashian. I’m sure the family and friends of Gaby were comforted in their mourning by seeing this topic trend globally. This is a really touching story of a dream coming true and a young girl being remembered all through a trending hashtag.
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