01.20.06
Social Analysis of Tagging
Over the course of the past fortnight we’ve actually snuck it into the site, but without any annoucement (ironically I’ll be blogging about that after this post) Rogue Connect has launched a folksonomy tagging tool for use by our members.
It’s been less than a fortnight of testing it by tagging fashion blog entries and, more recently, member profiles. But already there are some trends developing on the site. I hadn’t really given them much thought until reading a social analysis of tagging today.
The thing that stuck me the most was that some of the ideas and concepts that Rashmi (the author) touched upon after analysis of services such as Flickr and del.icio.us are already appearing at Rogue Connect.
For instance (and only quoting from the introduction in both of these instances);
A behaviorist would say that the I get reinforcement the moment after I tag. The social experience is pleasurable. It gets me hooked, it keeps me coming back.
Getting hooked (along with the simple benefits of having the tagging tool) is one of the reasons we introduced it into Rogue Connect. And it’s paid off, after two weeks our logs have showed that the average time on the site has raised considerably in the areas that feature tagging. For instance, members are no longer just reading style entries, they’re now tagging them as well. What was initially a brief perusal of (and sometimes a comment on) a fashion entry has become a quest to tag it. It could be sexy for instance.
Alternatively, on tagging the article, I might learn that I am the only one interested in that item, the one person who cared to tag that resource. Perhaps I am simply the first one. Perhaps I will become a trendsetter - my act of tagging will enable others to follow behind, discovering my footsteps. I can always imagine…
Okay, this one I’m going to use out of context but I’ve already noted trends appearing on the site. Not in the sense that we’re influencing the next season of fashion to the extent that Sienna Miller and Kate Moss are, but in the way that the tagging tool is being used. At first members were tagging style entries and profiles with single words (the sexy example for instance), but I tried to extend that by using condensed ‘terms’. For instance, I would tag the often blogged “I’m in my PJ’s” or “I’m only wearing a towel” with ‘nakedunderneath‘. Within a few days others had picked up on this tag and begun using it themselves. Hardly trendsetting, but at least trend-encouraging.
I’ll have more on tagging on Rogue Connect’s tagging tool and its implications in the near future, after all, it’s included in the site but we haven’t even announced it to our members.