Well, if you needed validation of the value of the tagging phenomenon, you got it today. Yahoo!’s second big purchase, del.icio.us, in the tagging space clearly says that Yahoo! believes tags are a valuable asset.
I don’t disagree.
Today, tags might be the ultimate sticky asset. Your tags are a reflection of your values, your thinking, your mindset. Shared tags reflect the collective interests of a community. Tags and profile, together could used as contextual triggers for advertising driving much more precisely targeted delivery than is possible today. If, as the Web 2.0 advocates suggest, data is the new platform, then Yahoo! just bought a core platform asset.
Tags: validated!
The other big validation that Yahoo!’s purchase of del.icio.us provides is the value of just going and doing something. Rick Segal wrote, November 27, that successful products get shipped. Just Ship The Damn Thing (JSTDT)! Don’t try to boil the ocean. Josh Schacter had a dream, and exploited the power of the web to ship early, and ship often.
Shipping: validated!
Next up, look for shared tags across Flickr and del.icio.us. Look for tag driven advertising.
Web 2.0: validated!
Alec Saunders is the Vice President of Developer Relations for BlackBerry maker Research in Motion. This is his personal blog, with his personal viewpoints. Prior to this Alec was the CEO and co-founder of Calliflower — the easiest way to hold a meeting, online, on a conference call, or on the go. A double-decade veteran of product management and marketing, he spent nine years at Microsoft where he helped launch Windows 95, the first two versions of Internet Explorer, the Universal Plug and Play initiative, the push into home markets, opt-in email marketing and what might well go down in history as the very first direct email list ever.
