The Hashtag

I keep seeing hashtags followed by phrases expressed as one word.

I know it has something to do with Twatter, and I'm guessing it's often used as an annoying attempt at humor but what are the actual implications of the hashtag when used in this way?

#sowhatthefuckisthisreallyallaboutthen

The 'hash tag' is a twitter thing...

Basically, say you 'tweeted' about the X factor, there would be a popular hashatag (I assume '#Xfactor' or something like that.)

then, If you make a tweet with the same hash tag, any other posts that had the same hash tag would show on your news feed.

It also helps twitter to keep track of what it 'Trending' at the moment...

... so you can be a part of a conversation with several people about the same topic and keep track of all that is being said by using #acommonidentifier