In 2012, schlock factory The Asylum released a film called, no joke, #HoldYourBreath. Most people dismissed this an incredibly cynical attempt to drum up publicity, both by breaking new ground and social media potential, but the real motivation is something more targeted. This wasn't the point when a hashtag became so prevalent that it was now suitable in any situation, but when a company realised how we pick what to watch. You see, on Netflix, #HoldYourBreath will automatically be the first result when films are sorted alphabetically. And that's where this film predominantly featured the hashtag (the DVD is the more conventional Hold Your Breath). When browsing for something to watch on a streaming service, people tend to pick towards the top of a list of results, even if it's sorted arbitrarily. Whether it's short attention spans or the effect of Google search, we're more likely to watch Jurassic Park than The Lost World: Jurassic Park (because J comes before L, not because the first is obviously better). This tends to target people watching things at home more than cinema-goers, but as streaming becomes ever bigger expect the titles of smaller movies to start with numbers or early letters in the alphabet to get a bigger share of the market.
