You have probably already used tagging – or have been tagged – and may not even know it. Have you ever received an email from Facebook telling you that “You’ve been tagged in a photo”? Or maybe you’re a movie geek and enjoy adding descriptive words to movies on The Internet Movie Database. These are examples of tagging in action!
What exactly is tagging?
Tagging is a common term that refers to adding labels to items (photos, books, movies, webpages, etc.) that are found online. When you’re looking for something online, often you can find it quicker and more easily if there’s a label. With the growing vastness of information available on the Internet, it’s impossible for “professionals” to label everything and computers just don’t have the human touch required to do the job right. But now that the web has gone interactive, we don’t have to rely on pros and ‘bots – anyone can tag! Everyone can collaborate through online tagging to point other web surfers in the right direction to find stuff online.