THE ESSENTIALS
There are many components to the online world that are generally known and understood by most digital users; however, here are three essential terms that we need to understand to take control of our digital responsibility: Hashtag A hashtag (#) is a symbol added before a word or phrase to create a searchable category indexed by social media and discoverable by other users. Instagram, X , and TikTok are the primary platforms where hashtags are used. Hashtags are a way of making it easier to find and follow other users/posts within a particular category or contribute to a conversation. Hashtags are frequently used on X to create forms of community where individuals with similar interests can interact and group their posts under the same category (often negatively) . Username A username is a unique online identity that is chosen to represent someone online. Most platforms make you choose a username when you create an account, and this username is typically unique to this individual user (meaning it may not be used by others unless that username is no longer in use). Be mindful that many social media platforms will also ask for a display or vanity name, which can be replicated by any user on the platform. It is imperative we know the difference between a username and a display name. As a vanity name is not unique, we must accurately know what our children’s usernames are to accurately access their social media accounts. Below is an example that illustrates usernames versus vanity names. The red boxes indicate usernames, and the blue boxes indicate vanity names.
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