The week in hashtags: #Phones4U, #WhyIStayed, #LFW and more

#Phones4U

After its final remaining network EE cut ties with the company on Sunday night, Phones4U has gone into administration. The store may have been one of the less soothing retail experiences out there, about on par estate agents and the Primark returns queue, but with 720 outlets the cheap and cheerful mobile merchants were a fixture on many UK high streets. Twitter has mainly responded with sympathy for the 5,596 employees who will likely lose their jobs – plus a few people fretting about their insurance.

 

#WhyIStayed and #WhyILeft

When a security video showing American football star Ray Rice knocking his then-girlfriend, now wife Janay Palmer unconscious was released last Monday, it triggered a powerful outpouring of tweets from women about their experiences in abusive relationships. Created by writer Beverly Gooden, the #WhyIStayed hashtag was used more than 71,000 times 24 hours by women addressing the question so often asked by casual observers: ‘why wouldn’t you just leave?’

A companion hashtag, #WhyILeft, went viral soon after, sharing the reasons that women finally managed to walk away from their abusive relationships. Incredibly powerful stuff.

 

#LFW

Leg ’Fore Wicket? Let’s Forgo Washing? Nope, London Fashion Week OBV! If you’ve been away from the action, in a place where it’s possible to walk around freely without tripping over eight street style bloggers in orthopaedic platforms, the #LFW tag is your insta-source of the most crucial need-to-knows for Spring Summer 2015. Yes, that’s half a year away, but fashion demands you need to know them now.

 

#BladeRunner

The final cut of Ridley Scott’s cult 80s dystopian sci-fi flick Blade Runner was shown on BBC2 last night, prompting a lovely watchalong among Twitter’s night owls and isomniacs. Though unfortunate timing means lots of people are using the same hashtag to talk about the Oscar Pistorius verdict – careful how you tweet.

 

#NoMorePage3

‘Aren’t beautiful young women more attractive in at least some fashionable clothes?’ tweeted Rupert Murdoch on Wednesday, leading to another surge in attention for the No More Page 3 campaign and speculation that The Sun might finally do away with its topless tradition. While the idea of putting glamour models in frocks rather than just their pants isn’t exactly enlightened, the 83-year-old News Corp boss has previously admitted that he found Page 3 ‘old fashioned’ – leading the campaign petition’s 203,000 signatories to wonder what else it will take before News in Briefs is banished for good.

 

#IndyRef

As we head into the final week of campaigning before Scotland decides its future on Thursday, the Independence Referendum hashtag is working overtime. Among those wading into the debate in recent days include David Beckham, Piers Morgan, Vivienne Westwood and the Loch Ness Monster.

 

#Christmas

Only 100 days to go, folks! You should probably take your reindeer jumper out of mothballs and start dropping hints about a Mr Frosty. It’s also 155 days till Pancake Day and 252 days till Whitsun bank holiday, but nobody seems to make gifs about those.

 

Main image: Quinn Dombrowski

Want to read more? Here’s our coverage of the recent Apple announcements, includingeverything you need to know about Apple’s ‘phablet’, the iPhone 6 Plus, andsmartwatches buying guide, or if you’re sick of Apple completely, here’s our rundown of our 14 favourite dating apps, from Tinder to eHarmony.

 

Lauren Bravo