About two years ago, certain people began throwing number signs in front of certain words in their tweets. The uninitiated were more than a little put off by the use of these seemingly meaningless symbols, but for some reason the twitterati were drawn like moths to a flame. And once the rest of the twit-o-sphere wrapped its mind around how hashtags work, they quickly became the preferred way to find, create and promote trending topics on Twitter.

These days, hashtags are everywhere — Facebook statuses, NPR…you name it. Some are meant for a select few (recently spotted: #whydovectorshapesremainclickablewithdirectselect). Others are clearly designed to grab everyone's attention. While organizations like #hashtags figure out cool ways to show the effects of this powerful little symbol, marketers keep trying (and, judging from efforts like MTV’s #thephone campaign, failing) to capitalize on it. Don’t even get me started on the MLM issue. 

All of this begs the question: how relevant are hashtags these days? Twitter Search now does much of the work hashtags used to do, and misguided (or malignant) efforts to use them just make people look the other way. While I’m a fan of hashtags in theory, in practice I find myself using them less and less every day.

I’d love to hear your take on the state of hashtags. Are they relevant? Annoying? Marketable? Endangered? Leave a comment and share your thoughts.