# Hashtag Usage in a Geographically-Local Microblogging App

## TL;DR

This study investigates how hashtags are used and spread in Jodel, a location-based anonymous microblogging app, revealing differences from Twitter in hashtag usage patterns despite its local community focus.

## Contribution

It is the first analysis of hashtag usage and propagation in a location-based, profile-less microblogging platform, providing new insights into local social media dynamics.

## Key findings

- Jodel hashtags are used more country-wide than locally.
- Hashtag propagation patterns differ from those observed on Twitter.
- Despite local design, users tend to use hashtags across larger regions.

## Abstract

This paper studies for the first time the usage and propagation of hashtags in a new and fundamentally different type of social media that is i) without profiles and ii) location-based to only show nearby posted content. Our study is based on analyzing the mobile-only Jodel microblogging app, which has an established user base in several European countries and Saudi Arabia. All posts are user to user anonymous (i.e., no displayed user handles) and are only displayed in the proximity of the user's location (up to 20 km). It thereby forms local communities and opens the question of how information propagates within and between these communities. We tackle this question by applying established metrics for Twitter hashtags to a ground-truth data set of Jodel posts within Germany that spans three years. We find the usage of hashtags in Jodel to differ from Twitter; despite embracing local communication in its design, Jodel hashtags are mostly used country-wide.