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• 1 media/images.jpeg 2017-11-29T19:56:37-08:00 Naming Within Social Media: How Hashtags Play a Role in Convergence 10 plain 558976 2017-12-15T08:37:52-08:00

  As previously discussed, the cyborg’s identity is shrouded behind the virtual, the real world identity cannot be fully known through using the social media realm alone, it is only after the private and public spheres assemble themselves together that the virtual identity of the cyborg can be credited with the physical identity as well. Another example of the convergence of the private and public sphere as demonstrated through the use of social media is through the use of naming.
  
  The act of giving some entity or phenomenon a name is a way to understand or make meaning from what is unknown, something of great important to society. In the same way, naming on social media platforms is a way to make sense of the phenomenon being named or bring attention to something previously existing mostly in a private sphere. This act of naming is done on social media through the use of hashtags. A hashtag can be defined as word or series of words without spaces, introduced by using the pound symbol, which then allows it to become a live link. Meaning, the link is an interactive, or  clickable, aspect of the media which unite all other threads that utilize the same hashtag in their media. While something that can be, and typically is, used to add emphasis, it is also capable of creating and maintaining the makings of a social media movement. This is seen in the example of the infamous #BlackLivesMatter. When the #BlackLivesMatter became a hashtag in 2013 it labeled, or named,  the modern equal rights social movement in a public sphere. “Since then it has become the banner under which dozens of disparate organizations, new and old, and millions of individuals, loosely and tightly related, press for change” (Stephen). Meaning, this searchable and very public technological feature unites ideas from all people wanting and willing to participate in the conversation. By utilizing multiple platforms of social media it allows for the movement to gain attention and followers it may have not otherwise be able to meet. In fact, anyone can post using the hashtag and anyone has the power to “…send a direct message to someone like DeRay McKesson, one of a handful of activists who sit at the apex of social networks that now run hundreds of thousands strong” (Stephen). By utilizing the hashtag, acts of racial incongruity such as police brutality, racial profiling, and others are brought to light through the public sphere of social media.While the tweet, video or other content may be assumed to be in the public sphere, the individual posting or contributing may not be. Meaning, the social media platforms offer anonymity that an in-person confrontation cannot, “Any given tweet might be public, but online threats are disembodied and anonymous” (Stephan). Someone can “…wake up and sit at their breakfast table and talk to a million people” in a way that allows their thoughts to be very public, without sacrificing their physical world identity (Stephen). By using the #BlackLivesMatter it allows any individual to involve themselves in the movement regardless of their platform, race, or even the point they hope to give attention to.
  
  In a similar way, the social media environment has seen a rise of the popular hashtag, #MeToo. This hashtag is meant to bring attention to a previously very private and typically even shameful confession of being victim to sexual abuse. By using this hashtag it begins a discussion of something that was very confined in the private sphere, either by the victim or perpetrator, or simply because the stigma surrounding sexual abuse, the private sphere is brought into the public. In some cases the hashtag is even accompanied with a short synopsis of how and when the violation was committed, bringing the unseen to the light even further. These hashtags provide further function than just categorizing media, instead they allow the cyborg user to pull experiences from their private sphere and bring them into the public sphere.