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The biggest hashtag of 2020 might not be a hashtag at all

In 2018, #MeToo, #BlackLivesMatter, and #NoBanNoWall coalesced into social movements that defined the year. In 2019, the #ClimateStrike led by youth activist Greta Thunberg made headlines. In 2020, Twitter hashtags might not cut it, says Moya Bailey, an assistant professor at Northeastern who studies the way digital media is used to promote social causes.

Bailey says that with a climate crisis bearing down on us, and with protests rooted in wealth inequality cropping up around the world, “There’s more of a cultural shift that I think young people understand needs to happen, and that’s not something that’s easily conveyed in a hashtag or on a social platform.”

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