What are Google+ Hashtags Good For Anymore?

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The title got your attention, yeah? It's a question that sparked the discussion with my editor-in-chief (Lee Jarratt) on hashtags. Are they even relevant or needed in this day and age of the optimized search engine? What was his answer? I'll get to that in a bit.

Some of you may be thinking, what exactly is a "hashtag" and what is it for? Many have gone over the history of the hashtag, but that's not what this is for. For those living under a rock, the short answer is that Twitter made it popular and now nearly every social media platform uses it for categorizing content.

Here's a fun blast from the past with the first ever use of the hashtag on Twitter:
The first Tweet to make use of a #hashtag
What is the future of hashtags on Google+ and other social media platforms? Let's dive in...

You probably remember when I reported about the updated hashtag system Google implemented a while ago. You don't!? OK, well it was all the way back in 2013, so I understand. All you really need to know for today's story is it was a cool new (at the time) system for hashtags that's now absent in Google+.
  1. Hashtag campaigns
  2. Event conversations
  3. Contests
  4. Twitter chats

These are all conducive to the 140 character medium Twitter has dominated where conversation must be kept limited. Most of those hashtag uses listed above for Twitter have been rendered obsolete by new Google+ features. The latest and greatest being Google+'s Collections.

Collections allow users to organize their posts, photos, and videos. Sound familiar? Add this to the shrinking mentions of hashtags in all areas of Google+ and it's telling me Google wants to either phase them out or make them more "behind the scenes, but only if you need them."

The bottom line is unless you want to make fun of hashtags (like below), then what are Google+ hashtags good for?

Going back to the original point, and as +Lee Jarratt reminded me, searching was his answer. Search is still the cornerstone for Google's social media game. The more tools you have in your belt to get accurate information correctly in the right categories, the better. Hashtags are still very prominent as far as Trending is concerned on G+. I'm confident hashtags aren't going away anytime soon, but expect to see them downplayed even more than they are now on Google+.

Bonus round: Can you guess what the technical term for a hashtag is? If you guessed “octothorp” then you're right; now go stump your friends!

How often do you use hashtags on Google+ these days? If so, how do you use them and do they make a noticeable effect? Please let us know in the comments section!