The real value of tagging is not in the clouds it produces, but the keywords it adds to pieces of content. Tagging comes in really handy as a source of metadata for content to make it more findable through search.

Thomas Vander Wal (http://vanderwal.typepad.com/) gave me advice about teaching intranet users to tag content, which I’m stating in my own words: “When you are coming up with tags to add to content, ask yourself this question: ‘What terms would I or a colleague use to find this page or file in three months from now?’”

Fortunately, our tagging engine supports multi-word tags (no underscores or periods needed) so adding good tags is truly helpful for content that otherwise doesn’t contain enough descriptive text to make it easy to find. But, of course, getting folks to make content good and tag it well is a whole ‘nuther ball of wax.

I always thought the same thing myself…what’s the point of using tags anyway, if you can search or use the category navigation?

It’s really just a way to get more confused an disorganized.

BTW you’ve got a great blog going here. You should put up a “portfolio” or “projects” page to let us know what you’re working on!

Take it easy and keep up the good work.
-M