Famous Social Media Application and Use of Hashtags in Pakistani Context: A Survey

Abstract

Observing the latest practices on social media applications, role of hashtags have become a major concern to talk about. The emergence of social media has put huge impact on people of different age groups; thus, it is bringing a change in the pattern of communication and interaction (Kamran and Mansoor, 2017). Social media applications allow interaction while following new features and trends; for example, the use of hashtags. Emerging trend of hashtags is considerable and worth studying the perception of social media users in Pakistan. The study aims to analyze the popularity of social media application in Pakistan, and to what extent social media users are aware about the usage of hashtags. Four social media applications i.e. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat were considered in the study depending upon their accessibility in Pakistan. Data was collected quantitatively and qualitatively. Quantitative data was collected through questionnaire where 55 Pakistani social media users participated. Results of the survey reveal that Pakistani users are more inclined towards using Facebook and Instagram than Twitter or Snapchat. The study further collected qualitative data from 8 Facebook users in an interview. Findings of the study show that hashtags are used on Facebook as fashionable trend to catch attention.

Keywords: social media applications, Facebook, Instagram, hashtags, Pakistan