I’ve started using hashtags more frequently on Instagram (though not really on Twitter) because it has this amazing effect of making at least 20 more people see what I posted than I’d usually get. Or at least 20 more people “double tap” what I shared.

What is this magic?

Korean hashtags, my friend, Korean hashtags. What, you ask, are some of these hashtags?

#먹스타그램 #맛스타그램 #냠냠 

This is the food trifecta. Looking for pics of delicious food to salivate over? Just search these tags and you’ll be dealing with intense plate-envy and wasting your life away looking at the amazing skills of amateur food photographers (which are, in my opinion, the most prolific type on Instagram).

먹 comes from the Korean word 먹다, to eat. Stick -스타그램 (-stagram) on the end and you’ve got yourself an eat-stagram. 맛 is for taste, and 냠냠….well, you can figure that one out.

#글스타그램 #글 #시스타그램 #좋은글귀 

These ones are for the readers and writers, the feelers and thinkers. 글 is a piece of writing, and so 글스타그램 is essentially someone uploading their own writing or someone else’s. 시 is poem, and so there is the respective tag for poem-stagrams. As for 좋은 글 귀 or sometimes 명언, these draw attention to a wise quote or some just deep-down good/thought-provoking words.

You know what? If you like poetry and are learning Korean, stop reading this post and just go follow mot_mal on Instagram. He’s amazing. His poems are also fairly simple. You can read ’em, I promise.

#일상 #데일리그램 #셀스타그램 #몸스타그램

Love sharing selfies? Your #ootd? These tags will show you the Korean Instagram-land of selfies, visuals, and daily photos. You’re going to see a lot of people with perfect makeup and a lot of muscular bodies posing as proof of their hard work. Especially with the 몸스타그램 one, as 몸 means body and so it’s precisely what you’d expect if you search “body-stagram.” Continue reading →