Tagged on Five Things, Plus More Tag Talk

Okay, I don't do these very often, but Journals Product Manager Stephanie tagged me in her blog entry, and you want to keep your Product Manager happy, so here goes: My contribution to the The "Five Things Your Don't Know About Me" meme. (A meme is an idea that spreads, as if it has a life of its own.)

I'm going to discuss the other kind of tagging, too, but first, the five things, so I don't get the meme police called on me and I get beat up by some 15-year-old girl (as Stephanie suggested might happen):

Five Things You Don't Know About Me:

Those LED pedestrian crossing signals? I have one in my house. Got it from an online surplus place:
I've been eating a lot of tater tots lately. It just kind of happened.
The first CD I ever bought? The Soundtrack From Twin Peaks. It came in a cardboard longbox. (Remember how those were going to destroy the environment?) I didn't even have a CD player at the time.
I have a black thumb -- every plant I've ever owned has died in brutal fashion, most quickly, though some have died slow, lingering deaths.
I used to be able to drive a manual shift. I can't any more.

I think that technically fulfills the requirements of the meme. Oh, I have to tag 5 other people: I tag Susie, Corey, the folks at AIM BuddyBlog, David and the AOL Photo Team. Come play and/or suffer with the rest of us.

Now, about the other kind of tagging, the ability to tag entries that went live with R10.

The How: See my previous entry, which is in major need of revision, yet still tells you the basic mechanics on how to tag your entries.

The Why: Why tag your entries? This "Five Things" meme is a perfect example. By tagging my entry with a specific tag (say "five things" or "five things meme"), I associate that label with this entry. That means, in this particular case, the tag will say to blog search engine Technorati -- "Hey, this here entry is about something called "five things""

Then, when you do a tag search (which also happens when you click on the tag), it will show you other blog entries that have also been tagged "five things."

You can pick tags that are really common so that your stuff will show up when other people do general blog searches (like pets, dogs, funny), or you can use really specific tags that will probably only be used by you or your friends (six-pack picks).

Here's another example. Over in my AIM Pages Team blog, I participated in Day of the Ninja, which was Dec. 5:

The folks who created Day of the Ninja asked that folks who participated in the fun tag their blog entries, photos, videos, etc. with the tag "ninjaday2006", so that people could easily find other people who did silly ninja things.

These are just some examples of how you can use tagging. On the flip side, there are also different ways to expose tags. For example, like many other sites that use tags, AOL Pictures has a Tag Cloud that shows some of the more popular tags being used by AOL Pictures users (the bigger the word, the more popular the tag):

Each one of those words is a clickable hyperlink; clicking a link will show you photos that use that tag.

Anyway, play around and come up with your own uses for tags. The thing about tags is that as long as they work they way you want them to work, there's really no wrong way to use them.

Thanks -- Joe

Tags: five things, five things meme, aol journals, tagging, journals r10, meme police

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This entry has 17 comments: (Add your own)

#17 Comment from millerlilkim
1/28/07 7:05 AM | Permalink

Hi, my name is kimberly Miller I'm 26 and living in Winston,Salem, North Carolina with my boyfriend Brian in an apartment across town, I'm totally blind and loving it I've been blind for six yearws now and dealing with it pretty well, at least I think so and so does my bf, I cook and clean, and wash clothes and other things I'm very independent, and plus I also have the help of my boy friend he is always there when ever I need him, he is the light of my life and he makes me smile and laugh every single day and I like that and I'm truely content with that, I have a job I work four days a week and spend my fridays running all over the place, some people ask me if I would like my sight back and I told them no not really I've gotten use to it and plus there are something that I just don't want to see in this world today any way , yes I want to see my kids and want to watch television and read and write I truely do miss those things in life, but to me I truely do think people take what they got or should I say what they have for granted and it's pittaful so b happy with what u have for u never know when it's gonna be taken fromyou. well i have to go now talk to yall later your friend Kimberly if u want please write me always looking for new and exciting friends bye
#16 Comment from smanlover100
12/25/06 7:27 PM | Permalink

that is really strange
#15 Comment from sugarsweet056
12/21/06 9:52 AM | Permalink

Well, the tags are working again today (except one, caroling thru j-land) WEIRD. Kinda on again, off again GRRR.
Sugar
#14 Comment from sugarsweet056
12/20/06 11:52 PM | Permalink

Why are my Tags not working? I loved seeing the Tag Boxes, & quickly put them to use...& they worked. But that was yesterday, today they don't work! HELP!
Sugar
http://journals.aol.com/sugarsweet056/SUGARSLIFE/
http://journals.aol.com/sugarsweet056/MYBELOVEDFURRBABIES/
#13 Comment from journalseditorEntry Author
12/20/06 6:27 PM | Permalink

Uh oh, Felber found us.

Pharmolo -- Sorry, I always forget to specify what will and won't be available for INTL (non-US) Journals -- tagging isn't available in production for non-US locales.

Thanks -- Joe

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Tagged on Five Things, Plus More Tag Talk