--- title: Twitter Joins Instagram and Really Plays Up Its Hashtag Game description: The character-driven social media service now has an account on its photo-forward counterpart. Who will win the hashtag wars? canonical: https://time.com/4651926/twitter-on-instagram/ author: Raisa Bruner article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-01-27T19:15:01.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:40:31.972Z og:title: Twitter's Finally on Instagram Playing Up Its Hashtag Game og:description: Twitter's your new Instagram friend with all the hashtags og:url: https://time.com/4651926/twitter-on-instagram/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Twitter's Finally on Instagram Playing Up Its Hashtag Game twitter:description: Twitter's your new Instagram friend with all the hashtags twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Twitter's Finally on Instagram Playing Up Its Hashtag Game > Sponsored content. 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Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically.  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Jan 27, 2017 7:15 PM UTC  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Jan 27, 2017 7:15 PM UTC [Twitter](http://time.com/4652047/zoos-cute-animal-tweet-off/) is the free-for-all social media platform where users are limited to expressing themselves in just 140 succinct characters. But on Instagram—which Twitter finally joined just last week—the text-friendly service is opting for a more visual approach to sharing opinions. In the 11 posts Twitter has shared so far, Twitter has included the iconic hashtag as part of its picture in each one, perhaps as a sly reference to the fact that Twitter was the original home [of the online hashtag](http://time.com/2870942/hashtag-oed-oxford-english-dictionary/?iid=sr-link6). (Instagram co-opted the hashtag as an organizing principle as well, making the symbol ubiquitous on both pioneering platforms.) Twitter also recommends its Instagram followers “join the conversation” about everything from the new President to the Oscars to Fashion Week on its own site, which makes sense; its free-flowing format tends to provide a better set-up for dialogue, although Instagram has made efforts to improve user-to-user communications [through direct messaging](http://newsfeed.time.com/2013/12/12/instagrams-new-feature-might-as-well-be-called-direct-sext/?iid=sr-link1) and in-thread replying. Instagram, meanwhile, has had an official Twitter account since 2010—and [boasts over 40 million followers](https://twitter.com/instagram). 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