Posted in Website Design Tips	April 18, 2007

How tagging gives you the ability to follow the customer.

Tagging started out as something used internally by companies to help employees find and share files easier. Nowadays, it goes hand and hand with Web 2.0 and user-generated content, as people are actually able to put their own vocabulary and interpretation into something that they didn't create—blogs, articles, podcasts, videos, etc.

This isn't to say that every site needs tagging. As with any of the neat Web 2.0 trends, you need to pick and choose what's appropriate for your overall goal. However, there's a good chance that, as publishers, you've got a whole lot of content and only one or two ways to organize it. Tagging reflects the human thought process and behavior, so what's the harm in giving your users a little control, and in return, getting to know them a little better?

What Are Tags, Again?

In the Web 2.0 Expo session called "Tagging that Works," Thomas Vander Wal from InfoCloud Solutions, Inc., laid out what a tag really is:

• Simple data/metadata externally applied to an object
• Used for sorting (categories, dates, prices, etc.)
• A hook from aggregating (easily identifiable information)
• Provides an identifier and/or description (more than metadata)
• Personal markers for your users

The "F" Word: Folksonomy

Folksonomy is a lot like Taxonomy (the art of classification), except it's much classier because it's about user-generated classification. Folksonomy is the result of people's need to add their own perspective, and business' willingness to let go of the reins and give users control.

"The beauty of tagging is that it taps into an existing cognitive process without adding much cognitive cost." - Rashmi Sinha

The value of Folksonomy is that you're allowing users to add their own vocabulary and explicit meaning to your content, creating a more valuable product and giving you a better view of how others are interpreting you and/or your products.

If You Care About Your Audience, You Care About Tagging

Building tagging into your website doesn't have to mean allowing users to take complete control over your content. Leave up your primary navigation, but make sure you push a few ads down to make room for users to make their own interpretations.

But what are the gains (if you aren't convinced yet) of enabling tagging?

• A better understanding of your customers - getting to know how your customers think and process your information.
• Current terminology - gaining an inside look at the current business jargon through your customers' comments.
• Market segmentiation - finding new ways to market your product by discovering the additional categories users put it into.
• A new perspective - finding out things you never realized about your product by looking at it through the user's eye.
• The abilty to follow the customer - now that you know what they're thinking, you also know where they're going and what they're looking for.

Every Person is an Expert in Their Own Tags

According to a survey by Vander Wal, 28% of Americans have tagged, but where are they doing it? They're doing in all genres of media, not just blogs! See how these fascinating sites are incorporating it in—sometimes surprising—new ways.

Social Bookmarking: del.icio.us, rawsugar, ma.gnolia, blogmarks
Media: flickr, dabble, last.fm, viddler
Fun: listible, 43Things,
Shopping: amazon
Museums: steve.museum, powerhouse
Dating: consummating, MatchTag

That’s it for Day 3 of the Web 2.0 Expo, and as usual I invite any comments or questions about tagging, and Web 2.0 in general—only one day left!

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