Hashtags as Social Semiotic Resources in Vietnamese Youth’s Digital Entertainment Review Discourse

Abstract

Hashtags have evolved from simple metadata tags into key semiotic resources in digital communication. In Vietnamese entertainment review discourse, they function not only to categorize but also to encode experience, express stance, build community, and organize multimodal texts. This study analyzes 1,670 hashtags from 200 posts across TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube, covering music, cuisine, film, and tourism. Results show hashtags operate on three metafunctional layers: experiential, interpersonal and textual. Beyond indexing, hashtags shape cultural values, identities, and power relations in online communities. They emerge as multifunctional signs at the intersection of language, communication, and digital culture, offering insights for research on discourse, social media, and digital practices.