This link has been bookmarked by 4 people . It was first bookmarked on 08 Apr 2007, by Jason Bao.
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06 Apr 11
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12 May 10
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Del.icio.us uses single word tags separated with spaces
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43 Things uses commas to separate multi-word tags instead of spaces eschewing the need for quotes
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Later she expands here question, are tags useful when they are no longer tags but whole sentences, and does that do to search behavior and usefulness?
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tags work because they suck. During the discussion he pointed out how other mechanisms like categories, folders and ontologies have existed for quite some time yet they didn't gain acceptance like tags did in these social software applications.
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.they work because they ignore all the professional taxonomy hang-ups you point out - controlled vocabularies, thesauri, etc etc. When people are organizing their own content (posts, bookmarks, photos) they aren't interested in choosing from a predefined set of approved category terms. They just type what works for them, even though that's the sort of behavior that scares the crap out of librarians, who typically believe the value comes from control. Ironic, really.
Tags are just good enough.
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simplicity and ease is essential to the effectiveness and usability of tags.
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Keeping thinking to a minimum when inputting or reading tags was the primary motivation behind my decision play to use single word tags.
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Relatedly, SvN post commenter Tim remarked, the more cumbersome you make the saving of tags the less likely a user will do it.
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Inputting and managing tags is most effective as a keyboard driven task. Anything else degrades the power and usability of tags.
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08 Apr 07
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Del.icio.us uses single word tags separated with spaces. Flickr follows a similar path, but allows for spaces by optionally wrapping multiple words in quotes. 43 Things uses commas to separate multi-word tags instead of spaces eschewing the need for quotes. Amazon allows spaces and avoids commas and quotes entirely by restricting one tag per text box instead of the one box holds all like the others. Amazon also blow out the interface with an auto suggest interface widget.
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