Hashtags, Following, Likeing, Subscribing... What Does This All Mean?

I know I've written about social media before, but as I have gained more understanding and reasons for using it, I've learned a few things and expanded my use of the various social media outlets. By nature, I am not the most social person in the world, so for me, the use of social media has to be anchored in something a bit more concrete then what I'm up to and my latest random thoughts... Yes, I jumped on the Facebook bandwagon early on. It was fun to "find" friends and old acquaintances that I haven't seen for a long time. It's a great way for me to see what's going on in their lives and to share the big moments of mine. It didn't take long, however, for me to realize that it could also be a way to promote various projects that you are involved in. Whether it be a business or a band, Facebook can be a great place to collect customers or fans, share your latest news and events, and reach mass amounts of people in an instant. My first Facebook "Page" was Multimedia Projects and Designs, which is a page that promotes my own work as a freelance graphics and multimedia designer. I have also started a Balboa Yearbook and Balboa Basketball page, which serve as a way to reach the Balboa Middle School population, keeping them in the loop with our yearbook class and basketball program. We have also created Instagram accounts (@balboayearbook and @balboa_basketball), which I have found to be the most popular social media outlet for the middle school students. Recently, our yearbook class has created The BMS Channel on Youtube as a way to further promote all the great things we are doing in the class... It's really more of a media class, with our Yearbook as our main focus. We also do a DVD Yearbook, a weekly newscast, a monthly video newscast, two newspapers a year, and our "Get Inspired" project. Anyway, in regards to the social media, my newest endeavor is to wrap my head around and use the "hashtags". On Facebook and Instagram, I have started adding the # sign whenever I use the word #BalboaBasketball. When I click on the link it makes, it takes me to all the other posts that have that word and hashtag in it. It's a way to collect posts and pictures on a specific topic, but I am sure there is so much more to it... Like I said, I am still wrapping my head around all of the different social media outlets and the different ways they can be used effectively! It least we can see that social media can be much more than socializing, which in and of itself can be great, but I challenge you to take advantage of the ability to reach people through posts, pictures, and video to share activities, creations, and events that go deeper into who you are and what you are all about.