Hi Darja, I'm a former student of Geoff's, so I forwarded your email to him. His response: *** The reporter had an agenda, but I never said that. My own view is that hashtags are a boon to human happiness. What's a little stupid is using them as annotated emoticons: "I miss you. #weepy." Geoff *** Hope that helps - Jen *-*-*-*-*-* Jen King Ph.D Candidate UC Berkeley School of Information jenking.net