hashflag

plural hashflags

1. InternetA non-Unicode pictogram, similar to an emoji, automatically appended to a trending and often branded hashtag in a tweet.

   After posting a tweet about Wombat Strike Six, an upcoming videogame she was excited about, Monique noticed that the hashtag #wombatrevenge had an associated hashflag depicting a small, furious wombat.

   3 more examples

   Hashflags also don't last forever: Twitter turns them off, when the hashtag stops trending, I guess.

   2015 September 28, Alissa Walker, “Twitter's Hashflags Are an Abomination, and They Must Be Stopped”, in Gizmodo, archived from the original on 14 Feb 2018

   While some hashtags are so specific as to render unlikely the chance that a hashflag will appear out of context (e.g., #turkishairlinesopen2017), there are numerous examples of hashflags being attached to hashtags with multiple meanings and applications.

   2018, Tim Highfield, “Emoji hashtags // hashtag emoji: Of platforms, visual affect, and discursive flexibility”, in First Monday, volume 23, number 9, →DOI

   Despite the record-breaking number of #MahsaAmini tweets, the hashtag remains flagless. Hashflags are custom emojis specific to Twitter that help boost a particular hashtag on the platform and draw attention to a movement. By introducing a hashflag, Twitter would also make it less likely that misleadingly similar hashtags for #MahsaAmini will divert attention.

   2022 September 30, Mahsa Alimardani, Kendra Albert, Afsaneh Rigot, “Big Tech Should Support the Iranian People, Not the Regime”, in The New York Times