All About Tags

By now you've seen our newest feature, tagging, on MyBlogLog.  We have had FAR too much fun this week tagging each other, so I hope you enjoy it at least half as much as we have. 

Some people have suggested that tags, while well-known to the tech savvy, are still unfamiliar to many web users.  We decided a crash-course in tagging was in order.

What is a tag?
Tags are used to classify and identify an item.  The difference in a typical directory classification though, is that tags are user-created, meaning YOU decide who gets grouped in whichever way suits you.  You might 'tag' MyBlogLog as cool, social, blogs and friends.  Or, you might tag it something less flattering.  Sure, it would sadden us, but the tags you use to classify items are entirely up to you.  As more people tag an item with the same word, the tag will grow larger and bolder.  When you see a giant tag, you can be sure that the word is in some way relevant to the item it is being used to describe.

You can see here that more people tagged me MyBlogLog than any other tag.  It's first in my list and it's the largest and boldest word.  Rock Star is second, and that's really a shame, because it really describes me well. 

Tagging usage on MyBlogLog:

How can I tell who tagged me?  Hover over the tag and to the right you'll see a listing of the people who've tagged you.  Below I've hovered over the tag, Mom, and you can see that Todd, John and Ian are the people who've tagged me with that term.

 

How do I opt-out of tagging?  Your community can not opt-out of tagging.  However, you do not have to participate in tagging on your personal profile.  Or, you can decide that only you or only you and your friends can tag you.  All of these settings can be found in the Edit Profile section.

How do I delete a tag that someone has left on my page?  You can delete tags in the same way that you can block a member and their messages from being shown on your page. Hover over the tag and click the Red x. Even if someone else tags you the same thing again, it will never show up on your page again.

What are some really cool ways we can use tagging to help the overall MyBlogLog community?  I'm glad you asked!  Two things we wanted to make more 'user-moderated' can be well served with user tagging.

1.  Spam - If you think someone is spamming you, tag it out loud!  Internally, we like to call a user who games the system a SchMOe (Social Media Optimizer).  Tag anyone who spams you with the term schmoe.  While they have the ability to delete the tag and never see it again, WE can see it internally.  As their user account racks up the schoe tag, we'll investigate their conversations and take appropriate action.

2.  Hot Members - Let's allow the users of MyBlogLog to pick Hot Members!  Every week I'll dig through the users who are frequently tagged a Hot Member and let you all know about one of them.  User chosen Hot Members sounds so much cooler to me anyway.

Your tags will be helpful in these regards, and in making the blogs listed on MyBlogLog easier to find as well.  We are still working on how we will use these tags to find relevant blogs (which is why you can't opt-out of community tagging), but in the interim, you can find who else shares your tag (say, Mom) by clicking the tag on your own page. 

Here's the result when I clicked MyBlogLog on my own profile.

I could have also visited http://mybloglog.com/buzz/tags/mybloglog

If I wanted to find blogs that talk about real estate, I could have gone to http://mybloglog.com/buzz/tags/realestate to see other communities or people tagged Real Estate.  Whatever tag you are interested in seeing can be found in this way.  Just go to http://mybloglog.com/buzz/tags/  and discover new profiles and communities based on what's important to you.  Be sure to tag your own blogs with relevant keywords as well so that potential readers will be able to find you more easily.

Soon we'll make this easier, but we are still trying to decide how to display this data.  We really wanted to get tagging out to you today, so you could go ahead and start classifying yourself and your favorite blogs and bloggers. 

Any suggestions, as always, are welcome and appreciated!  Thanks again for being a part of our family.

Comments

[Drew Meyers]

Great addition!! I'll be tagging away the next couple days.

[Brett]

Great idea. Solves most problems in one go, which should keep me quiet for a while.

[Lord Matt]

Huge potential, I'm keen to see how it is refined over the coming months.

[mblair]

Wow, I think it is great that you are trying to get a handle on the spam problem but do you really think it is fair to stereotype SMO in such a way that you equate it with spamming?

Not all SMOs spam. In fact, one of the core things that SMOs usually do is encourage participation between site owners and social networks at large.

Wouldn't tagging spammers as 'spammers' in your system be more appropriate?

SMOs can do a lot to help build up and support the growth of social media infrastructures such as MyBlogLog. They are usually huge advocates.

Wouldn't it be better to work with them than spread inaccurate stereotypes?

[Nicholas]

Just when I thought you guys were finished with the tweaks, I guess you guys are just starting with the good stuff..

Overnight, the addition was pretty smooth..

[Kent Brewster]

Nicely done, you guys. :)

[Nicholas]

It was overnight right? Just when I thought you guys were done doing all the tweaking, you come out with this great little idea...

Anyway, I also wanted to tell you that the stats are all wacky, and have not reset on the main page, but have done so on the detailed stats page...

[Scott Rafer]

Please do another post highlighting how the Plus and Minus signs work if you have a minute.

[Nicholas]

Just another suggestion, maybe you guys can place the tags somewhere that does not overshadow the individuals blogs. I would much prefer that the blogs are just below the person's profile, and maybe the tags below that but still above your contacts...

Because the blogs are still king and the focus, right?

[teddy]

Awesome, but eyesoring... I think most bloggers are uses to seeing tags below the body of the main text.

[Robyn Tippins]

mblair, not all SEMs or SEOs are spammers. We really meant spammers are 'optimizing' a site by creating software to game a system. That's spamming. But I do agree that you can work in the SEO/SEM industry and not be involved in spamming at all.

[mblair]

Robyn - SMO isn't at all about creating software to game social media sites. That sounds more like a spammer than a social media optimizer.. Social Media Optimization is about improving websites so that they are better integrated into social media, such as MyBlogLog.

[Robyn Tippins]

That's why we didn't say to tag spammers as SMOs. Schmoes are spammers who claim to be SMOs, SMOs can be legitimate business people.

[timethief]

w00t! Thanks so much for tagging. I'm so excited that I blogged about it.

[Andy Beal]

So if you're now agreeing that not all SMOs are spammers, why can't you just go back and remove that reference from the post?

A spammer is someone that games MBL - SMO or not.

[Zephyr1]

These are a great way to compliment each other, I like them. Good Job guys...

[Markk]

Can you explain the minus sign in red and the plus sign in green? I'm just getting the red one, what gives?

[Sherri Caldwell - The Rebel Housewife]

This is really cool. I haven't done much with MyBlogLog, beyond seeing my little face show up on websites/blogs I am visiting, but I'm going to go check out my tags. Wendy P. at http://www.emomsathome.com sent me over with the link in her post about Del.icio.us & MyBlogLog.

[The Thinking Blog]

How about letting the users choose Hot Communities with the tag "Hot Community" as well?

Just one final question, how are they chosen now?

*****Robyn Responds: The Hot Communities are chosen dynamically by analyzing the stats.

[allsux]

Great explanation of a cool new feature. As great as I thought MyBlogLog was before, and as much better as I think it is now, I have to say that Eric visiting my site and leaving a message puts it over the top - MyBlogLog is the bestest! :)

[HDR]

Awesome, thank you for this!

[SR]

I like it, but the implementation has taken something away from the cohesive design of the pages... is there a way to lay the tags out in more of vertical box (or something)?

[Morgan]

Tanya - Great article - the tags add a certain flavor to the whole thing. P.S. Thanks for joining mybloglog, I've reciprocated because I will be a returning visitor to your site.

[Kanute]

I'm not so optimistic about tags, I write exclusively on Open Source, Linux when i checkout other blogs tagged Open source or Linux, i find they have little or nothing to do with Linux or Open Source. So whats the point tagging.

[Mommy's Getaway (Tam P)]

So what happens when you get someone tagging YOU with their name...because that just irritates me and what can I do about it? Can it be deleted or what?