Tagging Tips

About Tags

The word 'tag' — at this blog and at other sites, including Flickr, Technorati, and Del.icio.us — describes small but powerful snippets of text (one word or a few words, at most) that can categorize every item of content on the site, Through tagging, people can collaborate to sort posts by shared ideas and characteristics — and that enables other people to seek out all content about a topic by searching out the relevant tags.

Good Tagging Habits

You can help other readers as you tag by following a few simple rules:

1. Reuse existing tags, and use the ones already used the most. (The site will suggest tags that others have used as you type.)
2. Tags can contain spaces — for instance, you can write "2008 Elections" and make that a tag.
3. Separate your tags with commas.
4. Keep it simple. Don't use long series of redundant tags.
5. Try to think about tags people might use to search for a topic, and then use those.
6. Rather than inventing perfect-but-complicated tags, use simple ones that anyone can guess.
7. When using a person's name as a tag, use both their first and last name and use proper capitalization.
   1. When the same name might describe multiple people, include middle initials. For example, don't use 'Bush' or 'George Bush'; use either the 'George W. Bush' 'George H. W. Bush,' depending on which of the presidents you mean.
   2. Do not use titles. Use John Kerry, not Senator Kerry or Senator John Kerry
8. When writing something that is primarily about, or in reaction to, a story from a conventional media outlet, include the name of the outlet, e.g. New York Times.

Why Tag

The ease of the tagging concept has prompted the invention of a witticism that captures the essence of what tagging does: 'folksonomy,' short for folk taxonomy. Wikipedia notes that folksonomies, through the use of tags, "help to improve search engines' effectiveness ... [by sorting content] using a familiar, accessible, and shared vocabulary. ... The result, often, is an immediate and rewarding gain in the user's capacity to find related content."

Little words that help users other people find your ideas: what's not to love?