There are a lot of people who use hashtags on social media to make their posts easier to find. For example, they would like to promote a piece of clothing that they are selling. They will place hashtags. People who would input those hashtags will be able to see the piece of clothing that is being promoted. This will make it easier for people to sell their items or to show the world the things that they can offer.
Hashtags will definitely make it easier for social media websites to index the various images or posts that are being shown by the users. There are so many posts that can be published every second, and the hashtags will make it easier to categorize these items.