A New Viral Marketing Tool Called "Folksonomies"

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The term "tagging" or "folksonomies" refers to a new consumer phenomenon (short for folks and taxonomy). Tagging is effective because it allows consumers to create an organizational structure for online content. Folksonomies allow people to not only tag content, but also share it with others by categorizing it in a global taxonomy that they created.

This is how it works. Consumers are collaborating on categorizing online content under specific keywords, or tags, by using sites such as del.icio.us, a bookmark sharing site, and Flickr, a photo sharing site.

For example, a person can upload photos of their iPod to Flickr and tag them with "iPod." These images are now visible not only under the individual user's iPod tag, but also under the community iPod tag, which displays all images generated and filed under the keyword. Currently, Flickr has over 3,500 photos labeled "iPod."

Tagging is becoming popular as a natural complement to search. When you type the word "blogs" into Google, it doesn't know whether you're looking for information on how to start a blog, how to read blogs, or just what. Large and small websites are both jumping on the folksonomy bandwagon. They are implementing tag-like structures to help users find content that is relevant to them more easily.

Although tags are by no means flawless, marketers should use them to keep their finger on the pulse of the people. Begin subscribing to RSS feeds to track how customers tag information about your product, service, company, or space. These are live focus groups that are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Folksonomy sites can also be used to launch viral marketing campaigns, but with a caveat. Marketers should be upfront about who they are and why they are posting the link/photos, and they should avoid spamming the services.

(Read more about Folksonomies at ScienceDirect.com - Learn more from an expert view based on extensive research)[https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/computer-science/collaborative-tagging]