"The (Rather Unusual) Rich Get Richer Effect" of #TwitterHashtags

Twitter hash tags are a perfect example of "The Rich Get Richer Effect." Certain hash tags start trending, and then Twitter users see these hash tags and will often tweet about them (including the hash tag in their tweets), which causes the hash tags to continue trending. However, this process becomes unusual when you consider that a hash tag can be trending while not being particularly popular among Twitter users. 


One thing I often see is, on those rare occasions when a controversial or offensive hash tag begins trending, the hash tag continues to trend due to people's negative responses to it. By clicking on the hash tag one will find that many of the tweets pertaining to it criticize or express outrage over its sentiment. So although the hash tag is "trending," it is not doing so because it is popular, but rather because angry comments about the hash tag prolong the hash tag's trending which induces more comments...etc., etc. Though I haven’t had much luck in verifying this, I have heard that Twitter has a method of countering this effect and thus preventing these sorts of hash tags from trending.

Another example of this occurs when the plans of hash tag sponsors go awry. Some Twitter hash tags are often displayed as "trending" because a company has paid to spread that hash tagged phrase around Twitter as an advertising strategy. However, as McDonald's found out the hard way through their "#McDStrories" campaign, any press is not necessarily good press. Rather than praising McDonald's in their "#McDStories," Twitter users posted bad reviews and terrible experiences, adhered the hash tag to their comments. Once again, although it would appear that the hash tag was trending because of a positive reason (as McDonald's had intended it to occur), this was indeed not the case. Thus, the rich who get richer may, in the end, be worse off for it.