Facebook Decides To End Topics In Its Groups Making Hashtags Obsolete

Facebook has had a very unique relationship with the concept of hashtags in the past and today, we’re seeing that spiral into another issue altogether.

The concept of hashtags is taking a major downturn as the social media giant opts to depreciate it by next month. This feature was only recently added in the year 2019 but it appears that it’s coming to an end soon.

The news was confirmed through a screenshot that was placed by Radu Onescu. It showed how group managers were being provided with more information about Group Topics and their related options being scrapped.

Therefore, Facebook is now providing more information on this front how the admins won’t be able to add any form of hashtags to respective posts or even manage an entire list for hashtags as well.

However, users may continue to add hashtags to their own respective group posts and even choose any hashtag that shows posts on the app using such a hashtag.

This is certainly not a major step but it does lessen the ability of group administrative members to put these into separate categories and discussions on the platform. This was first launched with the idea of sorting out group chats better.

And we see why the decision was being taken in the first place as it needs more administrative members to work extra to ensure every post is categorized in the most accurate manner.

The real idea behind the behavior was that admins would organize a number of defined topics for these groups. And then, they would work around such tags to conduct navigation within the community.

But it appears now that members aren’t going to be using them further and the admins are not even bothered. This puts us in a very confusing relationship regarding the endeavor on Facebook.

During some very different periods, the app has tried to push hashtag use as a way to better categorize chats but that appears to be fading away due to less user interest. But after seeing how quickly they’re fading out with time, it’s probably smart to say goodbye now.

On social media, hashtags were always an element that could be relied on in terms of both Twitter and Instagram. But as far as Facebook is concerned, it never really seemed to gather a lot of interest at all.

With that said, it’s interesting to note how Facebook might be one platform that really does need such topic markers but if it's going to be applied in an inconsistent manner, then it’s not worth the headache.

You may continue to use the feature on the app by simply tapping on one tag and watching it take on a display of different posts that end up being applied in the same manner. But factors like privacy, reach restrictions, and other elements might make this a not-so-enticing discovery tool.

As far as marketers using this tool to the best of their advance, well, we’re not too sure about that. There is a lack of evidence that proves how this drives any major boost in terms of in-app engagement.


H/T: Radu Oncescu / Matt Navarra

Read next: Social Media Industry Benchmarks Study 2023 - Unveiling The Changes That Cause Changes
Previous Post Next Post