What is a tag in the Web 2.0 World? Tags are keywords that are associated with a post (photo, video or text) that help to identify and classify the post. When I write a blog post here, I tag (or label) the post with keywords that (I hope) will help a reader to identify what I am roughly covering in the post. So, for this post, words like: tags, web2.0 - would both work.
You can tag photos and videos in much the same way. Let's say I post a photo from the Coldwell Banker IBC on Flickr ... I might use tags like: ColdwellBanker, IBC, SanAntonio, 2009, etc. This gives the viewer some idea of what's going on in the photo.
The point of tagging is to group similar topics together. So, while I am at a conference, everyone might be micro-blogging to Twitter using another form of a tag, known as a "hashtag" to group all of their related posts from our conference - something like #ibc2009. The # sign identifies this abbreviation as a hashtag. Anyone posting about the conference will include the hashtag in their posts. As an outsider, even if you don't use Twitter, you can still see what's percolating by going to: http://search.twitter.com/ and typing in a hashtag.
Hashtags can be used for just about anything - from swine flu to Star Trek. Check out what's trending (or which hashtags are currently getting the most use) here: http://hashtags.org/.
Most of you are familiar with tagging from your social networking on Facebook, where you can be tagged in a photo, video or note. This tag works in much the same way, the person tagging you is associating you with the post.
Some you are using tags if you use Gmail. Gmail uses "tags" in much the same way you would use folders in Outlook. The advantages of the tag here is that you are able to tag an email with several tags, as opposed to moving the email into a single identifying folder.
You can also geotag a post - adding geographical information to your photo or video. If you were creating a listing video to upload on Coldwell Banker's "On Location" You Tube channel, geotagging allows the consumer to see the location of the property.
Websites and blogs that use tags will often display a tag cloud of their most popular tags. Tags that appear larger are the most popular. The easiest way to think of tags? Keywords.
Tagging out ... -S
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