Tagging is a relatively easy way to organize data.  For instance, people who use bookmarking sites will write a few works related to the link that they are saving to help them remember what that link is about.  However, this is not the only use of tagging.

I learned about how Noah Brier, a marketing man, is experimenting with tagging in relation to branding and public relations.  NPR's Bryant Park Project featured his brand tagging site - Brand Tags - today.

When you visit Brand Tags it presents you with a brand's logo.  Below the logo is a text box for you to enter the first word(s) that come to your mind.  You can then go check individual brand pages to see tag clouds for all the words that people have entered in for that brand.

For instance, on the NBC tag cloud, you'll see (as of this writing) that the the tags "30 rock," "friends," and "office" are really big, and that means that many people typed those words in for tags.  In this case, these tags make sense since they reference popular shows on the network.

The potential of this site is that it can help reveal what people really think about a brand.  We're talking more than just positive and negative metrics.

However, there are some important things to consider when checking out this site.  First, I doubt that everyone types in the very first thing that enters their mind.  Further, they could enter in a highly biased word.  Second, this site is brand new, and I barely heard about it.  I wonder who else hasn't heard of this.  Probably most of the population. 

So, check out the site since it is interesting, but don't make too many conclusions since it is so new and the audience so far is probably not representative of the general population. However, having said that, I think that this use of tagging has potential.

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