Tag, User Categorization Can Improve Online Search

The Register on February 02, 2007

According to a recent Pew Internet & America Life Project survey, 28 percent of U.S. Internet users have categorized, or "tagged," online user-generated content. The growing method of categorization and search was popularized by sites like the flickr photo sharing service. David Weinberger, author of a book on new classification systems, points out that tagging often leads to the formation of social groups structured around common interests and points of view, and that analyzing which tags are most popular, and how they relate, offers insight into such communities. Because of the growing push to improve enterprise search methods, tagging could become yet another consumer-driven trend that demonstrates real business value.