Thing 14

I think I am beginning to see what tagging is really about. I am glad to know that there are differing viewpoints on the nature and usefulness of tagging within the techno elite circles. I am soooooooo far removed from the people who are talking about this, but I think I get why sites like Technorati have fans. I can also see how it will grow exponentially in the future. People who spend a lot of time on the Internet (like Bloggers who post several times daily) would really benefit from the social sharing qualities of these tagging sites. I think del.icio.us is better for me, because it seems to be more mainstream, but Technorati is a bit too techno for me.

I went to the most popular searches. The top search was Jack Johnson. (I was surprised to see this, because most of my searches in this site before have generated lists of techno related articles that usually are introducing some new gadget). I really like Jack Johnson's music and have for a long time. I felt so "in-the-know" to see him at the top of the list. I clicked on the link and was surprised that the list of links on the first page (about 9) had either no mention or barely a mention of him at all. Then at the top of the page where they list other tags that would pair with the original one, Jack-Johnson was hyphenated. I clicked on that and the search was better. This makes complete sense when you reflect on what tags are: 1 word markers. Still, though, the only big info I got from this search was that there is some band out there that remotely sounds like Jack Johnson.

I still have faith in the validity of this Technorati stuff. I mean, come on, the video that is on the 23 Things prep list for Thing 14 shows a round table discussion about tagging that would impress any information geek. (The guy who started web crawler. Am I supposed to be starstruck??) I like what Tantek Celik had to say about this underground way of searching. He said. "We are relating on levels never seen before. We are getting the human experience raw and uncut, unfiltered." I agree. Unfiltered. Raw. Uncut. Sounds so up my alley, but I still think a filter (like using a search engine) can be good, because some of these bloggers posts sound like the rantings of uneducated slackers. I don't have the time to comb through it and make judgements before I get my info..