Tags - Revolutionary or Just Folly?

 
 
                          Just another trend or something else?

                          Trends happen overnight! Some catch on fast 
                          and explode very quickly into our every day use.

                          Most of these trends you can ignore as silly folly
                          or at the most fine amusement. Anyone remember
                          pet rocks, Farrah Fawcett hairdos, or last year's 
                          killer fashions?

                          Others, you have to pay more attention to: cell phones,
                          digital cameras, mini-sites, optin lists, or email.

                          Right now, there's another trend you should keep 
                          your eye on: 'tags'.

                          What are tags? And why should you care about them?

                          Tags are a way of sorting and linking all that information
                          in blogs and RSS Feeds. It groups together all the 
                          information on one particular subject. 

                          It's a democratic 'search engine' for blogs.

                          Think of a 'tag' as a 'keyword' to be used in blogging 
                          and RSS Feeds (Feed tags are still in the works).

                          Tags have hit the radar lately because Technorati, which
                          indexes 4.5 million blogs, started sorting blog posts by
                          using tags. 

                          They have created a folksonomy, drawing tags from 
                          different sources, mainly Flickr.com which sorts or 
                          groups pictures and from del.icio.us -- where you 
                          create a tag when you bookmark a page.

                          Or if your blogging software supports categories - these will
                          be recognized by Technorati as a tag.

                          If you want to create a 'tag' it's very simple; just place 
                          this code in your blog: 

                          <*a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Computers" rel="tag">Computers<*/a> 
                                            (remove asterisks in actual code)

                          and you will have created a tag for Computers . Click link 
                          to see example.

                          A tag makes it easier and faster to find information on 
                          your favorite subject. It gives you a cross section of real 
                          views and opinions floating in the ether.

                          There are some inherrent problems in this system; will the
                          posts grow so quickly and so large -- it's like 'finding a 
                          needle in a haystack' or will you have to dig thru a lot of
                          muck to find the scattered diamonds. Or maybe a ranking
                          system will be put in place but this goes against the 
                          'democratic code' of blogging.

                          Regardless, the traffic and marketing potential of 'tags' 
                          could be very beneficial to those who use it to their advantage.

                          A marketer with a product to introduce or promote could
                          aggressively target tags as part of their advertising
                          budget. As blogging increases in popularity - it's something
                          to watch!

                          As a website owner - tags could be a great source of 
                          targeted traffic. And the keyword here is 'targeted'.
                          
                          It's the kind of visitor you want coming to your site or blog.
                          It can only lead to a better quality visitor. Similar to
                          a visitor coming from the major search engines. One that
                          is really searching for your information.

                          The next big question, how will marketers exploit these
                          tags to make a few bucks? Everyone knows that's coming!

                          Will we have a 'tag search engine' that can rival the quality
                          of a Google or Yahoo? Or do we need one?

                          As with any new trend - you never know how it will play out.

                          Some interesting questions have yet to be answered:

                          Tags are basically keywords for blogs - but as everyone
                          knows the quality of links to these tags are not all equal.
                          Will someone step in and rank these or will they remain
                          democratic?

                          Just how will tags work for building content or links to your
                          site? How will the search engines use these tags? How will
                          marketers and advertisers exploit the potential of all this
                          content and the content's viewers?

                          Will we have tag-spamming? (Just what we need another form
                          of spamming!) Someone flooding these tags with thousands of links
                          to get traffic or sell a product.

                          Not to hype it too much but there's a real 'we're entering unknown
                          territory' feeling with blogging and RSS lately. Heady days for
                          those keeping a close watch on the events unfolding. There are 
                          countless applications probably already in the works for 'tags'!

                          It could be the start of something big or it could just fizzle.

                          In any case -- keep your eyes peeled to that cursor! There's 
                          probably a tag on the end of it!

                          This trend may just offer more than fine amusement.

                          





                          ----
                          To Create a blog within minutes - visit this link: 
                          RSS Report and Create Blog Guide.
                          Copyright © 2005 Titus Hoskins of bizwaremagic.com. 
                          This article may be freely distributed if this resource
                          box stays attached. Visit www.bizwaremagic.com
                          for more simple solutions to your online marketing tasks. 
                          ----

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